Stanford awarded $10.2 million center grant for pancreas cancer research

The Stanford University School of Medicine has been awarded a grant from the National Cancer Institute to fund Pancreas Cancer Research.

The five-year, $10.2 million grant will be used to provide support for a School of Medicine team of investigators to study the mechanisms underlying pancreatic adenocarcinoma development, using both mouse models and human tissues, and is relevant to understanding the inception of T3c diabetes mellitus.

Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a deadly disease whose mechanisms of development remain incompletely understood. How mutations or combinations of mutations promote PDAC initiation and the role of inflammation in PDAC development remain incompletely understood. Moreover, interactions between immune cells and signaling promoting immune evasion need to be identified and well understood.

“The grant’s mission is to enable our superb team to use highly innovative mouse models and human tissue-based approaches to identify interactions and pathways that regulate the inception and progression of PDAC”, said Seung K. Kim, MD, PhD, professor of developmental biology and lead investigator of this center grant.

Laura Attardi, PhD, professor of radiation oncology and genetics, who is co-lead on this grant, said “We view this as important recognition of the outstanding and enduring investigations of our highly collaborative team.” The Stanford Cancer Institute, which sponsors the Stanford Pancreatic Cancer Group, played a key role in bringing together investigators with the joint mission of tackling pancreatic cancer.

Kim added: “Our studies should broadly impact pancreas cancer biology and importantly, accelerate discovery of novel diagnostic or preventive strategies for early-stage disease, or therapeutics for advanced PDAC. We have a very strong team investigating an important set of questions facing the field. We are thrilled to have this support to work together.”