The Sol Goldman Pancreatic Cancer Research Center

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Hopkins Team featured in Cell

In the January 20th issue of Cell, Drs. Christine Iacobuzio-Donahue and Joseph Herman from the Sol Goldman Pancreatic Cancer Center, in collaboration with Dr. Franziska Michor at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, reported on the growth features of pancreatic cancer.

This unique collaboration relied on comprehensive data collected by Dr. Iacobuzio in association with autopsies she performed on patients who died of pancreatic cancer, Dr. Michors expertise in computational modeling of metastasis growth dynamics, and Dr. Herman's expertise in clinical management and treatment of pancreatic cancer patients at Johns Hopkins. First, using data of 101 patients who underwent an autopsy, they characterized the growth dynamics and metastasis of pancreatic cancers and created a mathematical model based on those features. This model was then used to predict a variety of features of pancreatic cancer growth and dissemination in the setting of different treatments, and these findings were then validated in a separate set of 127 patients who had surgery at Johns Hopkins. Together they showed that pancreatic cancers are growing at an accelerated rate when they are diagnosed, that for most patients metastases are already present at diagnosis, and that initiating treatments as soon as possible following diagnosis directly affects patient outcome. The largest implication of their findings is that initiating chemotherapy prior to surgery may offer the greatest chance of survival.

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