Fighting the UK’s deadliest cancer

A promising line of attack against pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer is to be explored further at Cardiff, thanks to substantial new funding from the Medical Research Council (MRC). Pancreatitis can develop when the enzymes needed for digestion turn on the pancreas itself. Chronic pancreatitis increases the risk of pancreatic cancer, which has the lowest five-year survival rate of all common cancers in the UK. High alcohol intake and gallstones are the most common causes of pancreatitis. Last year, Professor Ole Petersen and colleagues at the School of Biosciences revealed that a protein call calmodulin could protect the pancreas against the effects of alcohol. In cells without calmodulin, alcohol speeds up a chain reaction causing cells to self-destruct, leading to pancreatitis and potentially to pancreatic cancer. The team also discovered a calcium-like molecule which could boost the pancreas' natural protection against digestive enzymes.