Good news in the fight against pancreatic cancer
-
0:02 - 0:04By raising your hand,
-
0:04 - 0:07how many of you know
at least one person on the screen? -
0:08 - 0:10Wow, it's almost a full house.
-
0:10 - 0:13It's true, they are very famous
in their fields. -
0:13 - 0:16And do you know what
all of them have in common? -
0:16 - 0:19They all died of pancreatic cancer.
-
0:19 - 0:21However, although it's very,
very sad this news, -
0:21 - 0:24it's also thanks to their personal stories
-
0:24 - 0:28that we have raised awareness
of how lethal this disease can be. -
0:28 - 0:32It's become the third cause
of cancer deaths, -
0:32 - 0:37and only eight percent of the patients
will survive beyond five years. -
0:37 - 0:39That's a very tiny number,
-
0:39 - 0:42especially if you compare it
with breast cancer, -
0:42 - 0:45where the survival rate
is almost 90 percent. -
0:46 - 0:48So it doesn't really come as a surprise
-
0:48 - 0:51that being diagnosed
with pancreatic cancer -
0:51 - 0:54means facing an almost
certain death sentence. -
0:54 - 0:58What's shocking, though,
is that in the last 40 years, -
0:58 - 1:00this number hasn't changed a bit,
-
1:00 - 1:02while much more progress has been made
-
1:02 - 1:04with other types of tumors.
-
1:05 - 1:08So how can we make pancreatic cancer
treatment more effective? -
1:09 - 1:11As a biomedical entrepreneur,
-
1:11 - 1:14I like to work on problems
that seem impossible, -
1:14 - 1:16understanding their limitations
-
1:16 - 1:19and trying to find new,
innovative solutions -
1:19 - 1:21that can change their outcome.
-
1:21 - 1:24The first piece of bad news
with pancreatic cancer -
1:24 - 1:27is that your pancreas is in the middle
of your belly, literally. -
1:27 - 1:30It's depicted in orange on the screen.
-
1:30 - 1:32But you can barely see it
-
1:32 - 1:35until I remove all the other
organs in front. -
1:35 - 1:38It's also surrounded
by many other vital organs, -
1:38 - 1:41like the liver, the stomach,
the bile duct. -
1:41 - 1:45And the ability of the tumor
to grow into those organs -
1:45 - 1:47is the reason why pancreatic cancer
-
1:47 - 1:50is one of the most painful tumor types.
-
1:50 - 1:53The hard-to-reach location
also prevents the doctor -
1:53 - 1:55from surgically removing it,
-
1:55 - 1:58as is routinely done
for breast cancer, for example. -
1:59 - 2:02So all of these reasons leave
chemotherapy as the only option -
2:02 - 2:04for the pancreatic cancer patient.
-
2:05 - 2:07This brings us to the second
piece of bad news. -
2:08 - 2:11Pancreatic cancer tumors have
very few blood vessels. -
2:12 - 2:15Why should we care
about the blood vessel of a tumor? -
2:15 - 2:19Let's think for a second
how chemotherapy works. -
2:19 - 2:21The drug is injected in the vein
-
2:21 - 2:25and it navigates throughout the body
until it reaches the tumor site. -
2:26 - 2:30It's like driving on a highway,
trying to reach a destination. -
2:30 - 2:34But what if your destination
doesn't have an exit on the highway? -
2:34 - 2:36You will never get there.
-
2:36 - 2:38And that's exactly the same problem
-
2:38 - 2:40for chemotherapy and pancreatic cancer.
-
2:41 - 2:44The drugs navigate
throughout all of your body. -
2:44 - 2:46They will reach healthy organs,
-
2:46 - 2:50resulting in high toxic effect
for the patients overall, -
2:50 - 2:53but very little will go to the tumor.
-
2:53 - 2:55Therefore, the efficacy is very limited.
-
2:57 - 3:01To me, it seems very counterintuitive
to have a whole-body treatment -
3:01 - 3:04to target a specific organ.
-
3:04 - 3:06However, in the last 40 years,
-
3:06 - 3:10a lot of money, research
and effort have gone towards -
3:10 - 3:15finding new, powerful drugs
to treat pancreatic cancer, -
3:15 - 3:17but nothing has been done
in changing the way -
3:17 - 3:19we deliver them to the patient.
-
3:20 - 3:22So after two pieces of bad news,
-
3:22 - 3:25I'm going to give you
good news, hopefully. -
3:26 - 3:27With a collaborator at MIT
-
3:27 - 3:30and the Massachusetts
General Hospital in Boston, -
3:30 - 3:33we have revolutionized
the way we treat cancer -
3:33 - 3:36by making localized
drug delivery a reality. -
3:37 - 3:41We are basically parachuting you
on top of your destination, -
3:41 - 3:44avoiding your having to drive
all around the highway. -
3:44 - 3:49We have embedded the drug
into devices that look like this one. -
3:49 - 3:54They are flexible enough
that they can be folded -
3:54 - 3:56to fit into the catheter,
-
3:56 - 4:00so the doctor can implant it
directly on top of the tumor -
4:00 - 4:02with minimally invasive surgery.
-
4:03 - 4:06But they are solid enough
that once they are positioned -
4:06 - 4:08on top of the tumor,
-
4:08 - 4:10they will act as a cage.
-
4:10 - 4:13They will actually
physically prevent the tumor -
4:13 - 4:15from entering other organs,
-
4:15 - 4:17controlling the metastasis.
-
4:18 - 4:21The devices are also biodegradable.
-
4:21 - 4:23That means that once in the body,
-
4:23 - 4:24they start dissolving,
-
4:24 - 4:30delivering the drug only locally,
slowly and more effectively -
4:30 - 4:33than what is done with the current
whole-body treatment. -
4:33 - 4:36In pre-clinical study,
we have demonstrated -
4:36 - 4:38that this localized approach
-
4:38 - 4:42is able to improve by 12 times
the response to treatment. -
4:43 - 4:46So we took a drug that is already known
-
4:46 - 4:49and by just delivering it locally
where it's needed the most, -
4:49 - 4:53we allow a response
that is 12 times more powerful, -
4:53 - 4:56reducing the systemic toxic effect.
-
4:57 - 5:01We are working relentlessly to bring
this technology to the next level. -
5:01 - 5:04We are finalizing the pre-clinical testing
-
5:04 - 5:08and the animal model required
prior to asking the FDA for approval -
5:08 - 5:10for clinical trials.
-
5:11 - 5:16Currently, the majority of patients
will die from pancreatic cancer. -
5:16 - 5:18We are hoping that one day,
-
5:18 - 5:21we can reduce their pain,
extend their life -
5:21 - 5:24and potentially make pancreatic cancer
-
5:24 - 5:26a curable disease.
-
5:26 - 5:29By rethinking the way we deliver the drug,
-
5:29 - 5:33we don't only make it
more powerful and less toxic, -
5:33 - 5:38we are also opening the door
to finding new innovative solutions -
5:38 - 5:40for almost all other impossible problems
-
5:40 - 5:44in pancreatic cancer patients and beyond.
-
5:44 - 5:45Thank you very much.
-
5:45 - 5:50(Applause)
- Title:
- Good news in the fight against pancreatic cancer
- Speaker:
- Laura Indolfi
- Description:
-
Anyone who has lost a loved one to pancreatic cancer knows the devastating speed with which it can affect an otherwise healthy person. TED Fellow and biomedical entrepreneur Laura Indolfi is developing a revolutionary way to treat this complex and lethal disease: a drug delivery device that acts as a cage at the site of a tumor, preventing it from spreading and delivering medicine only where it's needed. "We are hoping that one day we can make pancreatic cancer a curable disease," she says.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 06:03
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Good news in the fight against pancreatic cancer | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Good news in the fight against pancreatic cancer | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Good news in the fight against pancreatic cancer | ||
Brian Greene approved English subtitles for Good news in the fight against pancreatic cancer | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Good news in the fight against pancreatic cancer | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Good news in the fight against pancreatic cancer | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Good news in the fight against pancreatic cancer | ||
Camille Martínez accepted English subtitles for Good news in the fight against pancreatic cancer |