Actionable metabolite supplements to improve treatment response in pancreatic cancer

ended

The prognosis with metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma PDAC is simply terrible, especially for those that do not respond to the chemotherapy, which is regarded as the standard therapy in most patients. More than half of the patients are non-responders and eventually pass away within months. It is therefore urgently needed to understand the differences among responder and non-responder patients, to develop alternative therapies that overcome the resistance and potentially further extend the survival for both groups. A recent hypothesis proposes the key role of microbiome and of the immune response in regard to tumor initiation, progression, as well as response to therapies. Diet, as a variable, introduces an additional layer of complexity, given its multifaceted impact on both the human microbiome and immune system, as our recent manuscript show. The metabolites produced by gut microbiota are influenced not only by diet, but also by a host of other factors. In ACT-PC, we propose the use of one or a combination of different microbiota-derived metabolites as a treatment to increase the efficacy of chemotherapy and at the same time to boost anti tumor immunity for PDAC patients. The overall goal of ACT-PC is to initiate the preclinical validation of specific microbiota-derived metabolites for improving treatment outcomes in PDAC patients. This project is designed to take our Technology Readiness Level from 2 to 4, enabling us to finalise the preclinical development within a subsequent EIC Transition and initiate clinical validation and development soon after. In implementing the project’s results we will leverage the PI’s unique network that includes commercial partners and patient organisations.