Science News

[US FDA] The US FDA approved Rasonque (daraxonrasib), a RAS inhibitor for the most common form of pancreatic cancer—delivering a new treatment option to patients with advanced pancreatic cancer months ahead of schedule.

[Emmaus Life Sciences, Inc.] Emmaus Life Sciences, Inc. announced that it has entered into an exclusive option agreement with Cedars-Sinai to continue investigating the clinical utility of L-glutamine oral powder in combination with chemotherapy as a potential treatment for PDAC.

[Nature Cell Biology] Researchers compared fibroblast diversity and epithelial–stromal interactions in pancreatitis and PDAC using human samples, mouse models, and mouse pancreatitis-derived epithelial organoids.

[Science Translational Medicine] Scientists found that the loss of function of aldehyde dehydrogenase family 3 member B2 (ALDH3B2) was sufficient to transdifferentiate cell line–based and human pancreatic duct cells into functional β-like cells.

[Nature Communications] The authors identified Chromobox 4 (CBX4) as an essential regulator of β-cell aging and function, with expression progressively downregulated in both aged and diabetic pancreatic islets.

[Cell Reports] Researchers developed human beta-cell lines lacking endogenous insulin and complemented them with insulin-carrying signal peptides from different hormones, evaluating insulin synthesis, processing, secretion, activity, and immune evasion.

[Cell Death & Disease] Scientists identified p38α (MAPK14) as a central regulator of mitophagy during severe acute pancreatitis progression (SAP). Combining bioinformatic screening with an experimental SAP model, they demonstrated aberrantly hyperactivated p38α in pancreatic acinar cells.

[Nature Genetics] Single-cell master regulator analysis of multiple pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cohorts identified malignant cells in three co-existing, molecularly distinct developmental lineage states, with distinct histopathological morphologies and spatial architecture.

[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America] The authors identified a subset of cancer-associated fibroblasts marked by high expression of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), which enhanced tumor cell migration and correlated with advanced PDAC stages.

[Cancer Immunology Research] Researchers identified multi-nucleated giant cells of macrophage origin as an immune cell state shaped by hypoxia and stress signaling, associated with aggressive tumor phenotypes, and potentially exploitable as an immune classifier in PDAC.

[Cancer Immunology Research] Scientists reported that the RNA-binding protein HuR is enriched in human PDAC and negatively correlates with T-cell infiltration. They found that HuR stabilized mTOR pathway transcripts critical for metabolic adaptation in PDAC.

[Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology] Expanding preclinical and clinical literature from PDAC and other oncological indications identifies novel approaches through which radiation therapy–immunotherapy combinations could improve local and systemic disease control in patients with PDAC.

[Nature Genetics] Single-cell master regulator analysis of multiple pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cohorts identified malignant cells in three co-existing, molecularly distinct developmental lineage states, with distinct histopathological morphologies and spatial architecture.

[US FDA] The US FDA approved Rasonque (daraxonrasib), a RAS inhibitor for the most common form of pancreatic cancer—delivering a new treatment option to patients with advanced pancreatic cancer months ahead of schedule.

[Emmaus Life Sciences, Inc.] Emmaus Life Sciences, Inc. announced that it has entered into an exclusive option agreement with Cedars-Sinai to continue investigating the clinical utility of L-glutamine oral powder in combination with chemotherapy, as a potential treatment for PDAC.

[Oncogene] Using a transgenic mouse model, researchers showed that early stages of neuroendocrine prostate cancer are associated with increased intraprostatic recruitment of Ly6G + polymorphonuclear neutrophils and reduced infiltration of CD8 + T cells.

[UCLA Samueli School of Engineering] The US Department of Defense has awarded a four-year, $2.1 million grant to a research team led by Dr. Neil Lin at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering. The funding will support a new approach merging genetic testing, functional drug-sensitivity testing and advanced computer modeling into a single system for guiding prostate cancer therapy.

[Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy] The authors provide a comprehensive overview of T cell replenishment in homeostasis, followed by the molecular hallmarks and signaling pathways of T cell senescence and exhaustion.

[Nature Cell Biology] Researchers compared fibroblast diversity and epithelial–stromal interactions in pancreatitis and PDAC using human samples, mouse models, and mouse pancreatitis-derived epithelial organoids.

[Cell Death & Disease] Researchers identified p38α (MAPK14) as a central regulator of mitophagy during severe acute pancreatitis progression (SAP). Combining bioinformatic screening with an experimental SAP model, they demonstrated aberrantly hyperactivated p38α in pancreatic acinar cells.