A form of immunotherapy shows promise against pancreatic cancer in a mouse model. The scientists engineered T cells to recognize pancreatic cancer cells — the cells homed to mice's tumors within a few days of infusion.

A new study has found that a certain type of immunotherapy — even when used without chemotherapy or radiation — can boost survival from the nearly-always deadly pancreatic cancer by more than 75 percent in mice.

The study, which was led by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center clinical researchers Drs. Sunil Hingorani, Phil Greenberg and Ingunn Stromnes, tested the immunotherapy on mice genetically engineered to grow pancreatic tumors very similar to those of human pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer is notoriously difficult to treat, said Hingorani, because it recruits patients’ bodies’ natural systems to construct both a tough physical barrier around tumors as well as an immune-cloaking device that keeps other, disease-fighting immune cells from recognizing the cancer.

Unlike any other cancer, pancreatic tumors are able to survive with a very limited blood supply — chemotherapy, administered via the bloodstream, has a difficult time getting inside. The tumors can also grow quite large before patients will ever notice something is wrong. And they are very prone to metastasize, or spread to other sites in the body.

Patients diagnosed with this cancer face very few treatment options. The median survival from time of diagnosis is six months. Only 7 percent of patients survive five years past their diagnosis, according to the National Cancer Institute.

“Pancreas cancers are probably the most lethal of all solid tumors,” Hingorani said. “This is the beast of all beasts.”