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RESEARCH PRINCESS MARGARET CANCER CENTRE

Redefining

Pancreatic

Cancer

In depth genetic analysis reveals

new cancer subtypes

Despite pancreatic cancer being one of the most
deadly forms of cancer, little is known about its
genetic and molecular features.

“Most molecular studies on pancreatic cancer
examine early stage disease, representing a
minority of patients. This is mostly due to
difficulty in obtaining sufficient tumour tissue
for research from patients with advanced disease,”
says Dr. Faiyaz Notta (pictured opposite page,
top left).
The study’s findings also indicated that the disease
To address this, Dr. Notta and Dr. Steven subtypes likely stemmed from specific genetic
Gallinger, a Clinician Scientist at Princess alterations during disease development.
Margaret Cancer Centre, examined pancreatic
tumours collected from 314 patients who These findings help to explain why patients with
participated in the COMPASS trial, including 111 pancreatic cancer display a wide range of responses
with advanced disease. COMPASS, which was to the same anti-cancer drug. In addition, they
launched by Clinician Investigator Dr. Jennifer will guide the design of new strategies that are
Knox, comprehensively characterized the genetic targeted to each disease subtype.
content of tumours using cutting-edge pathology
and sequencing technologies at UHN and the The illustration above depicts the cell’s chromosomes, in which
Ontario Institute for Cancer Research. DNA is packaged. The yellow portion of the chromosome
represents a genetic change.
The study found that pancreatic cancer could be Chan-Seng-Yue M, et al. Nat Genet. 2020 Feb 12. doi:
classified into five different subtypes based on 10.1038/s41588-020-0588-3. Supported by the Government
its genetic information. Prior to this, only two of Ontario, the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, The
subtypes of pancreatic cancer had been described. Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation, the Terry Fox Research
One subtype, referred to as Basal-like-A, was Institute, the Canadian Cancer Society and the Pancreatic
mostly found in advanced disease. Cancer Canada Foundation.

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