Invited Speaker Presentation 29th Lorne Cancer Conference 2017

Decoding pancreatic cancer (#27)

Sean Grimmond 1
  1. University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia

Pancreatic Cancer is one of the major causes of cancer morbidity in the Western world. It is projected to be second only to lung cancer by 2030. Its median survival is approximately 7 months and 5-year survival is less than 5%. Therapeutic advances in PC over the last 4 decades have been minimal and a better understanding of the molecular aetiology has been needed as essential to provide novel therapeutic strategies and better patient-treatment selection. Over the last 8 years, Professor Grimmond has pioneered cohort-based whole genome/ transcriptome/ methylome studies of Pancreatic Cancers (adenocarcinoma, neuroendocrine and peri-ampullary tumours) as part of Australia’s contribution to the International Cancer Genome Consortium. These studies have resolved the root causes of somatic mutation, the key oncogenic and tumour suppressor switches, important mechanisms underlying PC malignancy, and the presence of clinically relevant molecular subtypes in otherwise morphologically identical tumours. These studies have also identified a wealth of potential druggable segments in PC, which are currently undergoing preclinical studies. Collectively, these efforts are providing the foundations to better tackle these deadly malignancies through for precision oncology.