Immunotherapy is not usually effective against pancreatic cancer (PC), but a new study published in Oncotarget (Volume 16, 2025) highlights rare cases where it did help. These examples, though uncommon, may offer valuable insights for future treatment.
Pancreatic Cancer and Immunotherapy
Pancreatic cancer is often diagnosed at an advanced stage, which limits treatment options and contributes to its poor prognosis. While chemotherapy remains the standard treatment, it usually offers only modest benefits in terms of survival. Immunotherapy—an approach that activates the immune system to fight cancer—has been effective in other cancers but has shown limited success in PC.
This is largely due to the tumor’s ability to suppress immune responses and create an environment that protects it from attack. Currently, these drugs are only approved for a small subset of patients whose tumors have a specific genetic feature called high microsatellite instability (MSI-high), found in just 1 to 2 percent of cases.
The Study: Pancreatic Cancer Immunotherapy Responders
The study, titled “Exceptional responders to immunotherapy in pancreatic cancer: A multi-institutional case series of a rare occurrence,” was led by first author Kavin Sugumar and corresponding author Jordan M. Winter, from University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center.
The researchers examined medical records from 14 patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) who had responded unexpectedly well to immune checkpoint inhibitors—drugs that help reactivate immune cells to attack cancer. The drugs included PD-1 inhibitors such as pembrolizumab and nivolumab, CTLA-4 inhibitors like ipilimumab, and agents targeting tumor-associated macrophages. To find these rare cases, the research team contacted 471 oncologists from 91 major U.S. cancer centers between 2020 and 2021.
Full blog - https://www.oncotarget.org/2025/09/11/immunotherapy-response-in-pancreatic-cancer-what-a-new-study-reveals/
Paper DOI - https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.28739
Correspondence to - Jordan M. Winter - jordan.winter@UHHospitals.org
Abstract video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeWTcuVmqgM
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Keywords - cancer, pancreatic adenocarcinoma, immunotherapy, exceptional responders, microsatellite instability, survival
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