Nanoparticle therapy can significantly slow down the growth rate of pancreatic tumors

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most chemotherapy-resistant cancers. Most patients survive only 3–6 months after diagnosis, and even the best chemotherapy drugs can extend life by only around 16 weeks. Dr. Phoebe Phillips from the UNSW Lowy Cancer Research Centre explains why: pancreatic tumors are surrounded by dense scar tissue that can make up as much as 90% of the entire tumor mass. This scar tissue acts as a physical barrier, preventing drugs from reaching cancer cells and causing resistance to treatment.

Researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia have identified a gene called βIII-tubulin as a key driver of pancreatic cancer growth, spread, and chemotherapy resistance. In mouse experiments, inhibiting this gene reduced tumor growth by 50% and slowed the spread of cancer cells — a significant result that opened the door to a new treatment strategy. The findings were published in the journal Biomacromolecules.

To clinically suppress βIII-tubulin, researchers had to solve a difficult delivery problem: getting the treatment past the scar tissue barrier. Their solution was to wrap tiny RNA molecules — which silence the target gene — inside advanced nanoparticles small enough to penetrate the tumor. In mouse models, these nanoparticles successfully delivered therapeutic doses of microRNA to pancreatic tumors even in the presence of scar tissue, effectively inhibiting βIII-tubulin. Dr. Phillips noted that the technology has the potential to suppress any tumor-promoting gene, or a set of genes customized to an individual patient's tumor — a development that could meaningfully improve survival rates and quality of life for pancreatic cancer patients.