A study published in Cancer Cell and funded by the Ministry of Health and AIRC sketches a new profile of pancreatic tumor cells by associating specific biological characteristics with different morphological aspects of the cells. Led by a team of researchers from the European Institute of Oncology (IEO) coordinated by our IPCC member Giuseppe Diaferia and Gioacchino Natoli, the research reveals how various types of tumor cells coexist within each tumor and how this heterogeneity impacts prognosis.

“It’s like we’re fighting against multiple opponents at the same time,” explained Pierluigi Di Chiaro, lead author of the article. “Identifying different tumor niches that grow simultaneously within the pancreas will allow the development of treatments capable of intercepting all the populations of neoplastic cells that make up each individual tumor. These niches are able to remodel and adapt to the surrounding environment, and discovering these characteristics lays the groundwork for defining new strategies.”

One of the main findings of the study concerns the invasion of nerves by pancreatic cancer cells, one of the main causes of the unbearable pain associated with this disease. “Nerve invasion represents a real escape route that tumor cells use to spread throughout the body without encountering obstacles,” explains Lucia Nacci, co-author of the study. The researchers observed how the activation of certain genes is correlated with the ability to invade nerves, revealing potential mechanisms to prevent tumor spread.

“The study highlights how it is possible to give a face to the different tumor cells associated with different functional properties and use this profile to easily identify their presence in each individual patient”. This demonstration, explains Giuseppe Diaferia, lays the foundation for the development of artificial intelligence approaches capable of predicting, already in routine histological examinations, the composition of the tumor and guiding the physician in choosing the most suitable combination of drugs for each patient. “This approach could greatly facilitate diagnosis and treatment effectiveness”.

“Understanding the heterogeneity of pancreatic cancer is crucial for developing effective therapeutic strategies,” concluded Natoli. “Although this work is the result of years of technological optimizations and conceptual advancements, it is only a starting point for new research that can pave the way for personalized therapeutic approaches that will finally offer new hope to patients facing this devastating disease.”

Published in Cancer Cell, Marzo 2024: “Mapping functional to morphological variation reveals the basis of regional extracellular matrix subversion and nerve invasion in pancreatic cancer“. Cancer Cell, 2024 Mar; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccell.2024.02.017