Cancer and Allergy Fund

Approximately 1,400 people are affected each year by the aggressive pancreatic cancer (National Board of Health and Welfare statistics from 2019). More than 80% of patients already develop disseminated disease when they are diagnosed. The tumors are often resistant to drugs and radiation, so it is often a rapid process after diagnosis (Regional Cancer Center in Samverkan). More research is needed to find new forms of treatment! The Cancer and Allergy Foundation has provided support to researchers PhD Helen Kaipe, Professor Michael Björnstedt, Adjunct Professor Urban Arnelo and PhD MD Bengt Fadeel, who all study pancreatic cancer but from different perspectives. A thick layer of connective tissue cells, cancer-related fibroblasts, forms around the tumor, which can prevent chemotherapy and the body's own immune cells from reaching to kill the tumor cells. Helen Kaipe researches understanding of how immune cells and fibroblasts interact in pancreatic cancer, Michael Björnstedt is researching possible new treatment concepts with the subject selenium, Urban Arnelo is researching improved palliative care while Bengt Fadeel is researching nanomedicine to find a more effective way to treat pancreatic cancer. Helen Kaipe sees a major challenge in making the tumor receptive to treatment, where one way may be to affect the ability of immune cells to migrate towards the tumor cells. She therefore studies the body's own immune system in the form of T cells (which are supposed to kill cancer cells). Tumors in the pancreas inhibit the activity of T cells and the so-called fibroblasts of the tumors prevent T cells from even moving towards the tumors. Kaipe wants to map T cells in different parts of pancreatic tumors, and study the composition of different types of T cells in these parts and also how the tumor tissue affects the influx of T cells into tumors. Read more about Helen Kaipe's latest research project that has been supported here: How can we help the body's immune cells to find the tumor? - Cancer and the Allergy Fund Michael Björnstedt researches the subject of selenium and how it creates changes in cells. It is mainly tumors that are resistant to common cytotoxic drugs that are particularly sensitive to selenium. Michael's latest project specifically studies patients with liver cancer and pancreatic cancer. The goal is to develop a completely new treatment concept and cure patients who today are without the possibility of treatment. Read more about the latest approved research project here: Can selenium help with cancer of the liver and pancreas? - Cancer and the Allergy Fund Urban Arnelo is researching improved palliative care for patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer. Today, palliative care is often limited to chemotherapy (chemotherapy), while studies show that treatment with radiofrequency ablation (RFA) can theoretically result in bile flow being improved and prolonging / improving survival compared to available standard treatments. Read more about Urban Arnelo's research project here: Palliative treatment for pancreatic cancer - Cancer and the Allergy Fund Using nanomaterials, Bengt Fadeel is trying to find a way to deliver drugs to the cancer cells inside the layer of connective tissue cells. With the help of nanomaterials, he hopes to lay the foundation for new treatment methods for pancreatic cancer. Here you can read more about Bengt Fadeel's research: Nanotechnology for better or worse: focus on cancer origin and treatment - Cancer and the Allergy Fund