Pancreatic cancer has long been difficult to detect and treat, but that might be changing. Dana-Farber experts in the Hale Family Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research are focused on three key areas that are poised to shift the way people think about, treat, and detect pancreatic cancer.
Research shows the effectiveness of RAS therapeutics for pancreatic cancer
The introduction of medicines that target a family of genes called RAS represent a huge leap in potential treatment for patients with pancreatic cancer. RAS therapeutics are designed to inhibit or degrade mutant RAS proteins and slow the growth of cancer.
Approximately 95% of all pancreatic cancers harbor RAS mutations. No RAS-targeted therapies are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of pancreatic cancer yet, but clinical trials are underway with impressive results.
Most notably, the first RAS inhibitor to be evaluated in a large, randomized phase 3 trial showed a substantial prolongation of survival for patients with previously treated metastatic pancreatic cancer compared with chemotherapy. The drug, called daraxonrasib, has been given an initial regulatory green light for expanded access in previously treated metastatic pancreatic cancer. These results were presented by Brian Wolpin, MD, MPH, director of the Hale Family Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research at Dana-Farber, at the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting.
Investigators are building on this success with another novel approach to treating newly diagnosed metastatic pancreatic cancer. An ongoing clinical trial, RASolute 303, is comparing current standard of care — chemotherapy — to daraxonrasib alone or a combination of the two as a first-line treatment for patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.
Trials of several other promising RAS-targeting therapies are also underway at Dana-Farber.
If approved, RAS therapeutics could provide a foundation for building even more effective and durable combination therapies for pancreatic cancer. RAS therapeutics might also be appropriate for the treatment of early-stage RAS-mutant pancreatic cancer or even for the interception of pre-cancerous lesions with RAS mutations, which will become increasingly important as early detection and screening approaches improve.
“The revolution in targeting RAS has been one of the biggest therapeutic advances in the history of clinical care for pancreatic cancer patients,” says Andrew Aguirre, MD, PhD, co-director of the Center for RAS Therapeutics and Associate Director of the Hale Family Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research at Dana-Farber. “We believe we are on the cusp of an amazing new era in pancreatic cancer treatment in the next few years if these new RAS inhibitors continue to prove safe and effective in the clinic.”
Research to develop novel immunotherapies for pancreatic cancer
A key to the treatment of cancer is combination therapies that help stave off resistance to targeted therapies. In other cancers, combinations that include immunotherapy have been successful, but pancreatic cancers tend not to respond to immunotherapies.
However, new research by William Freed-Pastor, MD, PhD, a physician-scientist in the Dana-Farber Center for Gastrointestinal Oncology and Hale Family Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research at Dana-Farber, is opening the door to the development of immunotherapies specifically for pancreatic cancers. His work has uncovered new flags on the surface of cells called antigens that are prominent in pancreatic cancer but not on other cells. These flags may be recognized by the immune system and could make good targets for new immunotherapies.
Efforts are underway to explore the possibility of developing novel immunotherapies, including cancer vaccines and T cell therapies.
Research into early detection of pancreatic cancer
Approximately 80% of patients with pancreatic cancer discover the disease late, when it has already spread and cannot be surgically removed. Currently, there is no recommended screening test for pancreatic cancer, though patients who are at a high risk, such as those with an inherited risk of pancreatic cancer, may be recommended for screening using imaging tests.
Wolpin and colleagues are pursuing research at Dana-Farber that could lead to new ways to detect pancreatic cancer earlier by:
- Using artificial intelligence (AI) to detect warning signs of pancreatic cancer. Wolpin and colleagues are exploring whether AI algorithms can pick up patterns in medical records, such as unexplained weight loss, diabetes, or changes in imaging scans, that could indicate the development of pancreas cancer in a patient. If so, these algorithms could be used to direct people for screening.
- Developing new screening tools. Wolpin and colleagues are collaborating with MIT to develop a stool test to detect the disease.
- Early identification of small pancreatic cancers. Lesions on the pancreas appear long before cancer develops, but they are too small to pick up using existing imaging tools. In fact, just about every adult has pre-invasive lesions in their pancreas and most don’t become cancerous. Dana-Farber investigators Matthew Yurgelun, MD, and Michael Rosenthal, MD, PhD, are leading a clinical trial for patients with a high risk of pancreatic cancer to study new ways to detect pancreatic cancer early, before it has spread beyond the pancreas, using imaging and blood-based biomarkers.
“If we’re going to improve the lives of patients with this cancer, earlier detection has to be part of that,” says Wolpin.
I found the article “Three Ways Research Could Improve Pancreatic Cancer Treatment” from the Dana‑Farber Cancer Institute to be both hopeful and grounded. It outlines three key research advances earlier detection (including AI and biomarker tools), therapies targeting RAS mutations, and novel immunotherapy approaches that together sketch a much stronger future for a cancer that’s been notoriously difficult to treat.
It is such a complex cancer. My grandad died years ago with it and then in 1995 my mother died with it.(her father).