Steinman's immunotherapy key to prolong life span of pancreatic cancer patients
NEW DELHI: The world may soon find a way to prolong the life span of patients suffering from the lethal adeno carcinoma of the pancreas.

And the answer may come from the work of none other than Canadian cell biologist Ralph Steinman, who was diagnosed with the disease four years ago and died of it on September 30.Steinman discovered dendritic cells in 1973 that regulate and adapt the immune system's defence mechanisms. This had laid the foundation for immunotherapy.

Adeno carcinoma is an aggressive form of pancreatic cancer. Those diagnosed with it live for only about 12 months because most of them are diagnosed in the final stages. Four years ago, Steinman started a clinical trial of his dendritic-cell based immunotherapy in which he was the only patient.

"It didn't cure him, but it may have prolonged his life which is a big enough step. Dendritic cells are being tried on several types of cancer and works by increasing the immunity of cells in our body that kills the tumour cells," said professor Vinod Raina, who heads the medical oncology department at AIIMS.

In these cases, patients can live for even upto 20 years, thanks to the latest drugs and if the pancreas is removed.

"The biggest problem with pancreatic cancer is that there are hardly any tests for early diagnosis. Most patients come to us in the last stage. The survival rate is lower for patients diagnosed at later stages - less than 2% of patients diagnosed once their cancer has spread to other parts of the body," Dr Raina said.