Your Dollars at Work

On October 22nd-23rd, the Pancreas Club met (virtually) to review 63 research abstracts from all over the world. The club meets annually to promote the interchange of ideas between pancreatologists from all over the world. The Nikki Mitchell Foundation awarded their Second Annual Seed Grant to researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Below is an abstract for the winning research project:

NERVE GROWTH FACTOR EXPRESSION AND NERVE HYPERTROPHY IN INTRADUCTAL PAPILLARY MUCINOUS NEOPLASMSPresenter: Vincent Q Trinh MD | Vanderbilt University Medical Center VQ Trinh, F Revetta, JTE Roland, K Idrees, C Shi, MCB Tan

BACKGROUND: Intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMN) are pre-malignant cystic tumors of the pancreas. The molecular events occurring during malignant progression of these tumors are poorly understood. In conventional (non-cystic) pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC), perineural invasion is a poor prognostic factor, and mouse models of PDAC suggest that infiltration of nerves into the tumor stroma occurs before malignant invasion. These tumor-nerve interactions are mediated by neurotrophic factors, especially nerve growth factor (NGF). However, tumor-nerve interactions have not been studied in IPMN. The goal of this study was to analyze the relationship between NGF, nerve hypertrophy and dysplasia in resected IPMN.

To learn more about the winning abstract, #63, visit the Pancreas Club website.

Pancreas Club