Pancreatic cancer is an aggressive disease with very poor survival rates. Therapies based on “smart viruses” that are engineered to only infect and kill cancer cells, leaving healthy cells undamaged, offer great potential to treat pancreatic cancer. Our aim is to create new therapies based on these “smart” viruses.

Our lab has previously created a “smart" virus that only infects cancer cells which have a marker (called αvβ6 integrin) on their surface. Over 90% of pancreatic cancers present this marker, making them an excellent target for our virus.

By infecting tumour cells with our “smart” virus, we can help the immune system to find and target the cancer cells. Infection and killing of the cancer cells by the virus releases signals to the immune system, which not only help the immune cells to recognise the cancer but also help to switch on the immune system.

Our aim is to make even “smarter” viruses that can also deliver medicines directly to the tumour. One medicine will breakdown the stroma (the dense casing surrounding the cancer cells in a tumour) to increase the ability of immune cells and other therapies to reach and destroy the cancer cells. The other medicines will attract more immune cells into the tumour and switch them on to promote their cancer killing ability.

The long-term goal is to produce a new form of treatment that can make a real difference for pancreatic cancer patients in Wales and beyond.