Heating And Freezing Pancreatic Cancer Cells Causes Them To Die Off

Pancreatic cells were utilized to assess effects of heating and freezing on cell death; conducted in search of alternative treatments for pancreatic cancer which are more effective and less invasive to chemo and radiation therapies.

The team obtained commercially sold pancreatic cancer cells to grow in specialized containers which were then used to investigate whether heating and freezing in combination would be more effective in killing pancreatic cancer cells compared to freezing or heating alone; different technologies were used to freeze and heat the cancer cells to identify levels of cell death, on regrowth and which cell stress pathways were activated.

Methods such as cryoablation freezing of pancreatic cancer cells causes a lot to die, but some survive and will regrow. Heating them also causes them to die, but some will come back again. With dual-thermal ablation more die and do not come back, for reasons which are not yet understood.

Findings revealed that when cells are disturbed with heating or freezing different cell stress pathways are activated, particularly cancer cells which will activate pathways to protect themselves. Modulating stress pathways is the solution to make heating and freezing ablation processes more effective, this method may result in development of new methods to fight off cancerous pancreatic tumors.

Pancreatic cancer starts developing in the pancreas and will typically spread quickly to nearby organs, unfortunately it is seldom detected in early stages as symptoms don’t occur until it has advanced. Signs and symptoms of pancreatic cancer include pain in the abdomen radiating to the back, loss of appetite, sudden weight loss, depression, blood clots, fatigue, new onset of diabetes, and yellowing of skin and whites of eyes.

Estimates for 2018 figure around 55,440 people will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the USA, and approximately 44,330 people will die from it according to The American Cancer Society. Risks of cancer can be reduced by refraining from smoking, following a healthy balanced diet, regular physical activity, and maintaining a healthy weight.