New research out of VCU Massey Cancer Center suggests that the inactivation of NF1—a gene known as Neurofibromin-1 that holds natural tumor-suppressing functions—could be instrumental in the onset of pancreatic cancer, either in tandem with KRAS mutations, which occur in 85-90% of all pancreatic tumors, or even before any mutations occur in the KRAS gene, in partnership with TP53, the most inactivated tumor suppressor gene in human malignancies.
Cedars-Sinai investigators who previously developed an imaging tool that used artificial intelligence to predict pancreatic cancer are now working to adapt that tool specifically for Black patients, who have disproportionately high rates of the disease.
