Latest / Talking FACS / Hope in Tailored Care: Personalized Vaccines for Pancreatic Cancer

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Hope in Tailored Care: Personalized Vaccines for Pancreatic Cancer · Talking FACS

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  Welcome to Talking FACS, and thank you for tuning in to Cancer Conversations
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  on Talking FACS, a podcast collaboration between the University of Kentucky
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  Markey Cancer Center and the UK Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture,
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  Food and Environments Cooperative Extension Service.
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  We will share with you the latest developments in cancer prevention,
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  diagnosis, treatment and research from the experts at Markey Cancer Center,
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  Kentucky's only National Cancer Institute designated comprehensive cancer center.
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  Talking FACS is hosted by the UK Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program.
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  Our educators share research knowledge with individuals, families,
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  and communities to improve quality of life.
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  Hello and welcome to Cancer Conversations on Talking FACS.
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  We bring to you the latest research from our experts at the Market Cancer Center
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  so that you can understand what's going on in cancer research and cancer treatment.
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  Today, my guest is Dr. Joseph Kim, the professor and chief of surgical oncology
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  in the Department of Surgery in the UK College of Medicine.
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  And we're going to be talking about pancreatic cancers. So, Dr.
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  Kim, welcome. I'm happy that you're here with me today.
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  Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here. I have heard that the incidence of pancreatic
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  cancer specifically is rising across the nation and that it is the number one
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  cause of cancer-related deaths.
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  Yes. So, pancreatic cancer is one of the cancers that unfortunately continues
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  to increase in incidence in the United States.
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  And unfortunately, it remains one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths in the United States.
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  Is there something that we can do about this? You know, we have so many ways
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  to deal with other cancers. Is there a vaccine perhaps that we could take for
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  pancreatic cancer? Yes.
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  Well, as we all went through the COVID pandemic a few years ago,
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  the very same technology that was used to create rapidly the COVID vaccine for
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  all of the people in the United States and across the world,
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  this very same technology has been applied to creating an individualized pancreatic cancer vaccine.
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  And so we're very excited about this promising treatment for pancreatic cancer.
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  But in short, patients who could be eligible to receive the vaccine,
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  they must have disease that is removable with surgery.
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  So patients would need to come to the University of Kentucky.
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  They would need to undergo surgery here to remove the cancer.
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  And once the cancer is removed, We send it over to Europe where the tumor is
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  sequenced and a vaccine that is specific to that particular patient is created.
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  It is then sent back to the United States, to the University of Kentucky.
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  And in this clinical trial, patients would receive the vaccine after they have
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  recovered from surgery.
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  So it's not a vaccine in the sense that it's going to prevent people from getting cancer.
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  Like we think of vaccines prevent people from getting polio,
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  but it will prevent the recurrence of cancer.
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  Yes. Is my correct understanding? That's correct. This vaccine wouldn't prevent
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  patients from getting pancreatic cancer.
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  What it would do is boost your immune system and help your body to fight off
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  the recurrence of pancreatic cancer.
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  And so it would prevent or delay the recurrence of this disease.
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  Which is why you said it was individualized. So it is actually for your own
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  body, and your vaccine is not going to work for somebody else, right?
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  That is correct, and that is the amazing part of this technology,
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  that an individualized vaccine from your particular tumor is created just for you.
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  That is amazing that we're able to do that, isn't it?
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  Yes, absolutely. This is exciting technology, and we hope that this is groundbreaking
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  treatment for pancreatic cancer. Well, and.
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  Wondering, just out loud, if we can do this for pancreatic cancer,
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  is the future of treating other cancers going to be vaccines?
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  Well, thankfully, this technology is being applied to other cancers,
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  and so I expect that we will continue to see this technology being applied to
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  many of the cancers that we see in our patients.
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  But it is being tested in skin cancer, and it is being adopted in other cancers as well.
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  So I also heard you say that you have to have a cancer that is removable.
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  So you have to have a tumor that you can take out.
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  So that says to me that you need to catch it early. Yes, absolutely.
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  Unfortunately, most of the pancreatic cancers that we see here in the United
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  States, they are detected with advanced disease and most patients,
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  The majority of patients do not have disease that can be removed with surgery.
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  So this is a smaller percentage, 20% or so of patients that have pancreatic
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  cancer can safely undergo surgery to remove it entirely.
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  And so that is one of the challenges that we face for pancreatic cancer,
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  detecting it in its earliest stages.
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  And I think one of the reasons for why we tend to detect this cancer in advanced
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  stages is because the symptoms for pancreatic cancer are really nonspecific.
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  The location of the tumor closer to our spine requires the tumor to be quite
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  large and to push on surrounding structures to create symptoms that would lead
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  to detection of disease.
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  These reasons, pancreatic cancer is often detected late.
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  Is there a screening for pancreatic cancer?
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  There isn't a widely accepted form of screening for pancreatic cancer, but patients,
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  individuals can get blood tests that may give clues to whether or not something
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  is wrong in the pancreas.
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  And certainly family history is very important. So there are inherited disease
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  states that can lead to increased risk for pancreatic cancer.
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  So defective genes that are inherited from parents can increase the risk for
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  the development of pancreatic cancer.
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  And so knowing family history and knowing the diseases that may affect your
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  parents, grandparents, and family members is very important for you.
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  Definitely. Are there specific risk factors for people to develop pancreatic
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  cancer? The single most important modifiable risk factor that we know of for
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  pancreatic cancer is smoking.
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  Smoking certainly is related or responsible for other cancers,
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  most notably lung cancer, but it is also very important for the development of pancreatic cancer.
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  Are there symptoms that someone might recognize I know you said they're pretty
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  nonspecific so are there some things that someone might,
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  present to their general physician or their primary care physician and lead them to you.
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  Yes, I think one of the symptoms that develops is that immediately brings the
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  concern of pancreatic cancer is jaundice.
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  And so jaundice can be caused by diseases in the liver, but outside of diseases
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  for the liver, when jaundice develops, we do get worried about,
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  pancreatic cancer and other diseases that can occur in the area of the pancreas.
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  When someone is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, are there often tumors inside
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  the pancreas or are they going to be on the pancreas or will they sometimes
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  be without other regions but still have that pancreas marker?
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  So for pancreatic cancer, what is important to know about the development of
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  cancers in the pancreas is that there are a number of important blood vessels
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  and other structures that run through the pancreas.
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  So the bile duct runs through the pancreas and so pancreatic cancers,
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  when they push up against and invade the bile duct, that leads to the jaundice.
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  Pancreatic cancers can grow around very important blood vessels that may lead
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  us to say that these cancers are not removable with surgery because there are
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  important blood vessels that we cannot cut out and replace.
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  I think that is the important aspect of pancreatic cancers. Is it pushing on,
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  blocking, invading some of the very important structures that run nearby,
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  through, in and around the pancreas.
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  Okay. Dr. Kim, are there other considerations that we should talk about before we wrap up?
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  Well, I think for our patients that live in Kentucky and the surrounding areas,
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  it's important when there is something different with your body.
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  And I think we all know when there is something that feels abnormal,
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  that your body is acting differently than before, seek medical attention.
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  What we do see frequently are patients that have noticed symptoms or signs and
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  symptoms that are different from before, and it would be in their best interest
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  to seek medical attention as soon as they can.
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  Okay. Dr. Kim, thank you so much for your time. I know that this discussion
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  has been enlightening for me, and I'm sure that it has been for our listeners
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  as well. Well, thank you very much.
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