Funded by Lloyd Family Clinical Scholar Fund
Pancreatic cancer is an awful disease that kills about 50,000 people a year and is going to be the second most common reason people die of cancer in 2025. We have few treatments for pancreatic cancer that do not work very well and can make patients sick. More treatments for pancreatic cancer that shrink the cancer tumors and do not make patients sick are needed now. Our studies have shown that combining two pills, trametinib and hydroxychloroquine, shrink pancreatic cancer tumors in mice, as well as, in a pancreatic cancer patient. In addition, our previous clinical trial has shown that this combination of pills is easier for patients to take and does not make them sick in a small number of patients. We would like to now see whether the combination of trametinib and hydroxychloroquine pills shrinks pancreatic cancer tumors and leads to a longer life in more pancreatic cancer patients. If our study is successful it might allow for a treatment for pancreatic cancer patients that will make them live longer lives and not cause them to become sick.
