Advances and Prospects in the Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer

Abstract

Pancreatic cancer is a highly malignant and incurable disease, characterized by its aggressive nature and high fatality rate. The most common type is pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), which has poor prognosis and high mortality rate. Current treatments for pancreatic cancer mainly encompass surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, targeted therapy, and combination regimens. However, despite efforts to improve prognosis, and the 5-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer remains very low. Therefore, it's urgent to explore novel therapeutic approaches. With the rapid development of therapeutic strategies in recent years, new ideas have been provided for treating pancreatic cancer. This review expositions the advancements in nano drug delivery system, molecular targeted drugs, and photo-thermal treatment combined with nanotechnology for pancreatic cancer. It comprehensively analyzes the prospects of combined drug delivery strategies for treating pancreatic cancer, aiming at a deeper understanding of the existing drugs and therapeutic approaches, promoting the development of new therapeutic drugs, and attempting to enhance the therapeutic effect for patients with this disease.

Keywords: molecular targeted drugs; nano drug delivery system; pancreatic cancer; photo-thermal treatment.

Figure 1

Application of nanoparticles in drug delivery for pancreatic cancer. In the treatment of pancreatic cancer, nanoparticle-based delivery of therapeutic drugs could deliver drugs to tumor tissues more specifically and efficiently and reduce side effects of the drugs compared with traditional therapeutic drugs. The surface of nanoparticles modified with specific ligands might precisely target tumor tissue and kill tumor cells.

Figure 2

Schematic diagram of molecular targeted therapy for cancer. Drugs used in the treatment of pancreatic cancer, such as erlotinib, cetuximab, trastuzumab, bevacizumab, and sacituzumab govitecan, could specifically inhibit EGFR, HER-2 VEGF, and Trop2 related pathways. The regulation of these signaling pathways affected the proliferation, apoptosis, metastasis and invasion of tumor cells, thus inhibiting the growth of tumor.

Figure 3

Schematic diagram of photothermal treatment for pancreatic cancer. The photothermal agents were administered intravenously or locally. The permeability and retention effect (EPR) might be enhanced by nanotechnology, then the photothermal agents accumulated in the tumor selectively. By locally irradiating the tumor tissue with specific wavelengths of light, the PTT reagent was transformed from the ground state into an excited state, which induced the thermal damage and leads to the tumor death after firing.