Centers join in $16M push to develop pancreatic cancer treatments
Scientists to study KRAS protein with goal of finding longer-lasting drugs
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A $16 million research initiative is bringing together scientists from six U.S. cancer centers to build on recent breakthroughs in targeted therapies and develop longer-lasting treatments for pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest forms of cancer.
The scientists will investigate why some tumors respond to KRAS-targeted therapies, which block the mutant KRAS protein that fuels the growth of most pancreatic cancers, while others become resistant. The aim is to develop more effective combination treatments.
The initiative, funded by the Lustgarten Foundation and Break Through Cancer with support from the Cinelli Family Foundation, builds on the Conquering KRAS for Patients with Pancreatic Cancer TeamLab project. It brings together researchers from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and NYU Langone Health’s Perlmutter Cancer Center.
“Pancreatic cancer research is entering a new era of possibility, and we must invest in the kind of collaborative science that transforms promising advances into meaningful progress for patients,” Linda Tantawi, CEO of the Lustgarten Foundation, said in a press release from Break Through Cancer. “We are incredibly excited to support the next phase of the Conquering KRAS for Patients with Pancreatic Cancer TeamLab, uniting leading experts across institutions and disciplines to build on the momentum of recent discoveries.”
Pancreatic cancer begins in the pancreas, an organ that helps regulate digestion and blood sugar. Because the disease rarely causes symptoms in its early stages, it is often diagnosed only after it has spread to other parts of the body, or at a metastatic stage, leaving patients with few effective pancreatic cancer treatment options.
New treatments show promising results
More than 90% of pancreatic tumors carry mutations in the KRAS gene, which encodes a protein that helps regulate cell growth and division. These mutations lock the KRAS protein in an on state, driving uncontrolled cell growth. As a result, blocking the abnormally active KRAS protein has long been considered one of the most promising strategies for treating pancreatic cancer.
For decades, KRAS was considered drug-resistant. Only recently have experimental KRAS-targeted therapies begun showing encouraging results in clinical trials, marking a major milestone in pancreatic cancer research and offering new hope for patients.
However, many patients eventually develop resistance, meaning their tumors no longer respond to treatment, limiting the long-term benefits of these therapies. Researchers believe the next major challenge is understanding how KRAS-targeted drugs work in patients and how they can be combined with other therapies to achieve more durable responses.
“Recent advances in RAS-targeted therapies have opened a new chapter in pancreatic cancer research,” said Tyler Jacks, PhD, president of Break Through Cancer and founding director of MIT’s Koch Institute. “This initiative is focused on what comes next – understanding how these therapies work in patients, the nature of primary and acquired resistance, and how we can develop treatment strategies that build upon the improvements of RAS-directed therapy alone.”
The initiative builds on a study launched in 2024 through the original Conquering KRAS in Pancreatic Cancer TeamLab. In that study, Break Through Cancer said, researchers collected an “unprecedented” collection of tumor and blood samples from patients before, during, and after treatment with daraxonrasib, Revolution Medicines’ investigational RAS(ON) multiselective inhibitors. The treatment was found to more than double overall survival in a Phase 3 trial involving people with previously treated metastatic pancreatic cancer.
Scientists will use the new funding to analyze those samples to better understand how pancreatic tumors respond to treatment, why resistance develops, and which patients are most likely to benefit from KRAS-targeted therapies. They expect the findings to identify biomarkers that predict treatment response and guide the development of combination therapies designed to produce longer-lasting benefits.
The funding will also support a clinical study testing treatment combinations informed by those discoveries. Researchers hope that by bringing together expertise in cancer biology, immunology, computational science, and clinical care, they can translate laboratory discoveries into more effective treatments for patients.
“By accelerating collaboration and innovation, this initiative will answer critical questions, unlock new opportunities, and drive breakthroughs that shape the future of pancreatic cancer treatment,” Tantawi said.
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