Pancreatic cancer comprises only 3.2% of all new cancer cases each year in the United States, but is the third most common cause of cancer-related mortality. With Moonshot funding, the Pancreatic Cancer Microenvironment Network conducted translational studies toward improving therapeutic outcomes for patients with this highly lethal disease. Several of these studies have been translated into new clinical trials.
. These promising findings demonstrate that this aberrant splicing of CD22 RNA is an important driver and biomarker of immunotherapy resistance.As the overall cancer death rate has declined substantially in the past three decades, the number of cancer survivors in the United States has increased to 17 million, and it is projected to increase to 22.
A collaboration between the NCI and the Department of Energy, the Joint Design of Advanced Computing Solutions for Cancer program, uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to develop simulations of RAS-RAF protein biology and signaling, an approach that has already led to the development of a small molecule that specifically targets mutant Ras and may be suitable for clinical trials.