Pancreatic cancer: Bubbly drink trial could lead to effective treatment for deadly disease

In In The News by Barbara Jacoby

By: Olivia Lerche

From: express.co.uk

Experts are looking to develop a drink packed with oxygen microbubbles to make cancer treatments more effective.The researchers believe tumours can adapt to low oxygen conditions, making them harder to treat with drugs.As tumours grow, the blood vessels delivering essential nutrients become increasingly weak, which means that cancer treatments can struggle to penetrate the tumour.

Scientists from Cancer Research UK are looking at new ways to deliver extra oxygen to the site of a tumour, which would then allow radiotherapy and chemotherapy to work the way they are intended to.

They are investigating how oxygen bubbles transport from the stomach to pancreatic tumours and exploring whether this could be done by giving patients a bubbly drink.

Professor Eleanor Stride, Cancer Research UK scientist at the University of Oxford said: “We’re especially excited about the potential this bubbly drink could have for hard to treat cancers like pancreatic cancer, where survival rates are low and better treatments are urgently needed.

“We’ve had success in the lab in mice, so we’re now looking at how to scale this up for patients.”

In November, 2015 researchers at Ulster University found injecting tumours with oxygen microbubbles could help speed up pancreatic cancer treatment in mice.

Speaking at the time, the University said the finding was a ‘major breakthrough’ which can open up more treatment options, even for advanced forms of the disease.Experts said the technique means the tumour could be selectively target the tumour and ‘spare healthy tissue’, which would reduce any side effects of treatment – while sparing healthy tissue.Around 9,000 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the UK every year, and it has the lowers five-year survival rate of any common cancer.

The reason for the low survival rates are because there are few recognisable symptoms – such as weight loss, bowel problems, or fatigue.

Another sign is abdominal pain, which starts as general discomfort which can spread to the back.

Dr Iain Foulkes, executive director for research funding at Cancer Research UK, said: “We’re investing in pioneering ways to improve survival for patients.

“Prof Stride and her team are thinking outside the box, and this is just the sort of innovation we want to spark through our Pioneer Awards scheme. By being bold we aim to make a difference.”

Professor Stride told the BBC: “I wouldn’t suggest people rush out to buy any drinks claiming to be rich in oxygen.

“We are at an early stage – there is still a lot of engineering and thought that will have to go into this to make it work.”