The CancerWeb Report, What's New In Cancer: July, 1996
Pancreatic Cancer

• Is there a connection between tumor aggressiveness and blood vessel supply? - A report from the University of Ulm in Germany adds to this evidence. Researchers described a correlation between expression of angiogenin, a substance produced by tumors that stimulates growth of new blood vessels, and the prognosis in pancreatic cancer. Serum levels of angiogenin averaged 566.6 ng/mL in 47 patients with cancer of the pancreas compared with 359 ng/mL in 16 healthy normals. High levels of angiogenin was found in nearly 87% of tumor samples from 40 cancer patients; in the remainder, the levels were still higher than those in normal pancreas. The amounts of angiogenin were greater in more advanced cases, as well as in those with lower one-year survival rates. (Cancer Res 56:2703, 1996) Editor's Comment: - Recent summaries in Cancer Web Report (for example, Volume 2 Number 2, February, 1996, colorectal cancer and neuroblastoma; Volume 2 Number 6, June 1996, bladder and stomach cancers) have stressed the role played by the process of angiogenesis, new blood vessel supply, in enabling tumors to grow and spread, and how it may be a good prognostic indicator. This is clearly an expanding field study of all types of solid tumors. I think there are now enough examples of possible prognostic leads, and what is really required is effective therapeutic exploitation.