{"id":439739,"date":"2026-01-27T02:13:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T02:13:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/439739\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T02:13:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T02:13:19","slug":"scientists-may-have-found-key-to-treating-hidden-cancer-growths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/439739\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists may have found key to treating hidden cancer growths"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scientists<\/a> may have discovered the way in which pancreatic cancer<\/a> \u2013 dubbed the \u201csilent killer\u201d<\/a> \u2013 hides from the immune system<\/a>, and how disrupting this process could help tumours to shrink.<\/p>\n

In a recent study<\/a>, researchers from the University of W\u00fcrzburg<\/a> in Germany<\/a> found that the cancer gene MYC, which helps cancer cells grow, also camouflages tumours by suppressing alarm signals that normally activate the immune system and attack the tumour.<\/p>\n

But by blocking this mechanism in animals, the researchers found a dramatic reduction in tumours, suggesting a new way in which cancer can be exposed to the body\u2019s own defences.<\/p>\n

The study was led by Martin Eilers as part of the Cancer Grand Challenges <\/a>KOODAC research team. He said: \u201cWhile pancreatic tumours with normal MYC increased in size 24-fold within 28 days, tumours with a defective MYC protein collapsed during the same period and shrank by 94 per cent \u2013 but only if the animals’ immune systems were intact.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Pancreatic<\/p>\n

Pancreatic cancer has the lowest survival rate of all cancers (Alamy\/PA)<\/p>\n

The findings open up promising new avenues for cancer therapy, as future drugs could be used to make tumours visible and vulnerable to the body\u2019s immune system without harming healthy cells, Mr Eilers added.<\/p>\n

Pancreatic cancer is the fifth biggest cancer killer in the UK<\/a>, with around 10,000 deaths each year. It has the lowest survival rate of all common cancers, with five-year survival at less than 7 per cent.<\/p>\n

It is nicknamed the \u201csilent killer\u201d because patients’ symptoms often appear only after the disease has advanced to a stage where treatment options are limited.<\/p>\n

MYC plays a major role in cancer and is activated in up to 70 per cent of human cancers, according to prior research.<\/p>\n

The Cancer Grand Challenges KOODAC team was funded in 2024 to tackle childhood solid tumours.<\/p>\n

\"Researchers<\/p>\n

Researchers say the findings open up promising new avenues for cancer therapy (PA Wire)<\/p>\n

It is developing innovative ways to target the proteins that drive tumour growth, and the findings of the study will be used by the team to design potential new treatments for MYC-driven cancers in children.<\/p>\n

Director of the team, Dr David Scott, said: \u201cCancer Grand Challenges exists to support international teams like KOODAC that are pushing the boundaries of what we know about cancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cResearch like this shows how uncovering the mechanisms tumours use to hide from the immune system can open up new possibilities, not only for adult cancers but also for childhood cancers that are the focus of the KOODAC team.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an encouraging example of how international collaboration and diverse expertise can help tackle some of the toughest challenges in cancer research.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scientists may have discovered the way in which pancreatic cancer \u2013 dubbed the \u201csilent killer\u201d \u2013 hides from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439740,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[64,63,1617,47757,5563,99474,137,1623,20272,10443],"class_list":["post-439739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cancer","tag-cancer-cells","tag-cancer-research","tag-cancer-therapy","tag-health","tag-immune-system","tag-pancreatic-cancer","tag-research-team"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}