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CASE REPORT article

Front. Oncol.
Sec. Gastrointestinal Cancers: Hepato Pancreatic Biliary Cancers
Volume 14 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2024.1458517
This article is part of the Research Topic The Growing Role of Immunotherapy and Combination Strategies in Pancreatic and Hepatobiliary Cancers View all 6 articles

Case report: Achieving Significant Tumor Reduction in Advanced Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma

Provisionally accepted
Yun Wang Yun Wang 1Hongyin Liu Hongyin Liu 1Qian Zhang Qian Zhang 2Nengwen Ke Nengwen Ke 3*
  • 1 Chengdu Shang Jin Nan Fu Hospital, Shang Jin Hospital of West China Hospital,Sichuan University, Department of Pancreatic Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
  • 2 Department of Gastrointestinal surgery, The Second People's Hospital of Qujing City, Qujing, China
  • 3 Department of Pancreatic Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Pancreatic cancer remains a highly malignant and challenging tumor with a dismal 5year survival rate of only 13%. The majority of patients are diagnosed at advanced stages, where surgical options are limited, and prognosis is poor. Immunotherapy, particularly PD-1 inhibitors, has shown limited success in pancreatic cancer due to its unique tumor immune microenvironment. However, certain genetic profiles, such as BRCA1/2 mutations, high tumor mutational burden (TMB), or microsatellite instability -high (MSI-H), may enhance sensitivity to these therapies. This report presents two cases of advanced pancreatic cancer with BRCA1/2 mutations treated with a combination of chemotherapy and immune checkpoint inhibitors. The first patient, with TMB -H and stable microsatellites, achieved complete remission after conversion therapy and remains disease-free for over two years post-surgery. The second patient, with MSI-H and low TMB, experienced significant tumor regression and improved quality of life with a prolonged progression-free survival, although the patient ultimately declined surgery.These cases suggest that combined chemotherapy and immunotherapy may offer a promising treatment option for select pancreatic cancer patients, particularly those with specific genetic profiles, warranting further investigation into personalized approaches to immunotherapy in this malignancy.

    Keywords: Pancreatic adenocarcinoma, Tumor reduction, case report, Immunotherapy, chemotherapy

    Received: 02 Jul 2024; Accepted: 22 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Wang, Liu, Zhang and Ke. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Nengwen Ke, Department of Pancreatic Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China

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