Stellate cells in the pancreas, when exposed to pancreatic cancer cells, stimulates the growth of the cancer cells and protects it against radiotherapy.
Normally, stellate cells are beneficial, helping the body respond to damage or disease, however, in pancreatic cancer, stellate cells become counterproductive.
Researchers from the University of Oxford, suggests that developing drugs to remove specific communication lines between the pancreatic cancer cells and the stellate cells could improve patients’ response to radiotherapy in the future.
Read more at University of Oxford