Cancer vaccines: advances give hope for future therapy

Advances in Targeted Therapy and Immunotherapy for Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic cancer is a highly aggressive malignancy with an overall 5-year survival rate of <6% due to therapeutic resistance and late-stage diagnosis. These statistics have not changed despite 50 years of research and therapeutic development. Pancreatic cancer is predicted to become the second leading cause of cancer mortality by the year 2030. Currently, the treatment options for pancreatic cancer are limited. This disease is usually diagnosed at a late stage, which prevents curative surgical resection. Chemotherapy is the most frequently used approach for pancreatic cancer treatment and has limited effects. In many other cancer types, targeted therapy and immunotherapy have made great progress and have been shown to be very promising prospects; these treatments also provide hope for pancreatic cancer. The need for research on targeted therapy and immunotherapy is pressing due to the poor prognosis of pancreatic cancer, and in recent years, there have been some breakthroughs for targeted therapy and immunotherapy in pancreatic cancer. This review summarizes the current preclinical and clinical studies of targeted therapy and immunotherapy for pancreatic cancer and ends by describing the challenges and outlook.

Vascular endothelium summary statement VI: Research directions for the 21st century

Effective translation of research advances from the bench to clinical and public health practice at the bedside and in the community at large represents an important step in the health research discovery enterprise. Increasingly, the gap in translating these advances into practice is being recognized. Successfully addressing this translational gap for the prevention and control of chronic diseases will require the development of novel, innovative, and, if necessary, nontraditional approaches. Participants in the 8th International Conference on Vascular Endothelium discussed a variety of novel approaches that have significant promise. Three of these approaches-vaccine development, genomics and proteomics, and tissue engineering-are highlighted in this position statement and strategies for public health practice and research are suggested.