A study published in Oncotarget with corresponding author Jordan Winter, MD, co-leader of the Case CCC's Developmental Therapeutics Program, adds to previously published data from early phase trials that immunotherapy may be effective for some pancreatic cancer patients.
The research paper, titled “Exceptional responders to immunotherapy in pancreatic cancer: A multi-institutional case series of a rare occurrence,” describes a rare group of pancreatic cancer patients who responded well to immunotherapy—a treatment generally not effective against pancreatic cancer.
Among the 14 patients analyzed, 82% experienced partial tumor shrinkage, while about one-third had a significant decrease in tumor markers. The median progression-free survival was 12 months, and overall survival probabilities were encouraging: 80% at one year and 70% at two years. Although the sample size was small, these results offer hope for potential future treatment options for one of the deadliest cancers.