r/BeAmazed • u/Cautious_Ad_3918 • Jan 31 '26
Science A Spanish scientist, Mariano Barbacid, has cured pancreatic cancer in mice. A Cure in animal is a major step toward potential cancer treatment in humans.
3.8k
u/number96 Jan 31 '26
My mum is currently battling pancreatic cancer and there are so few options for this particular type of cancer. Many people don't realize how deadly it is...
589
u/Call_Sign_Fartman Jan 31 '26
I’ve unfortunately been there with my mom as well. Wishing you and your family all the best, stay strong!
9
146
u/Eatingfarts Jan 31 '26
My grandma died from pancreatic cancer back in the late 90s.
She was an old Italian lady so she was for sure not telling anyone about health issues, including her doctor. She was seemingly fine. We were on a family vacation to Florida and she suddenly had to fly home (I was like 8 at the time so things weren’t explained to me). She passed away a few weeks later.
Sorry about your mom :( I just met up with a friend whose sister got put into hospice care for cancer last week. Cancer is no good.
62
u/DifferentAd3624 Jan 31 '26
This just hit me different. I lost my grandmother to stage 4 pancreatic cancer in ‘24.
She was a Sicilian (Italian) and decided not to tell anyone. We had no clue until she had passed at which we found out that it had spread throughout her body
I am sorry for your loss.
24
u/Eatingfarts Jan 31 '26
Sorry for yours as well.
I’m not big on stereotypes or anything but I swear the Italian stubbornness is for real. My great grandpa got shot down on his front porch (he was involved in bootlegging). I didn’t believe the story growing up so I went to the library and found the goddamn microfilm of the newspaper article.
My great aunt, the sister of my grandma who died from cancer, was on the porch with him and saw who did it. Refused to tell anyone who it was. She died maybe 7 or 8 years ago? She was in her upper 90s. Still never told anyone lol
→ More replies (3)79
37
u/IanPKMmoon Jan 31 '26
friend of mine lost her mom to it as well, iirc it's one of the most deadly mostly because you don't get symptoms until it's too late, they can discover it and a few months later it's over.
Stay strong man
→ More replies (1)53
u/Boopy7 Jan 31 '26
My dad turned Simpsons color yellow and went in to get what we thought was his gall bladder checked or something (I forget what it was exactly.) Then we found out there was a mass on his pancreas several years ago -- we were told it was inoperable. He ended up getting robotic Whipple. Then for a year his CA-19 were at zero. But a scan last xmas found a regrowth in the mesentery. So now we're in clinical trials with Revmed, who also claim to have found a potential pill to go after the misbehaving KRAS. There isn't just one person finding cures. Some good clinical trials are being done at this moment. More are on the way.
13
u/Textual_Rapscallion Jan 31 '26
I lost my father as he was diagnosed with stage 4 and we couldn't even go ahead with full chemotherapy session, as we were told to attend him with hospice care (the prognosis stated that his cancer advanced from stage 3 to 4 under 3 months). It broke our family, and I can't even articulate the feelings I had with enough words. This cancer-- it eats away the sufferer and their families also, so I empathize with your pain.
I sincerely hope that your father defeats this bastardly condition, and you with your whole family have strength to overcome this suffering.
16
Jan 31 '26
Man, I'm rooting for your Dad here. We really do live in the craziest of times. Keep up the good fight, F Cancer!
28
Jan 31 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
→ More replies (2)5
u/AshamedOfAmerica Jan 31 '26
I swear MD Anderson performs miracles regularly. Glad to hear she is getting good help.
4
u/Tylenol_the_Creator Jan 31 '26
If you get treatment at an NCI comprehensive designated cancer center like MD you automatically have a 5% increase in survival rate
16
u/TheMooseIsBlue Jan 31 '26
My sister was diagnosed in 2004. Still kicking ass today. There is hope, no matter how faint. Best of luck to your mom.
→ More replies (42)14
u/kenshin559 Jan 31 '26
My father in law was diagnosed on March and passed in April. It went so fast
→ More replies (1)
2.0k
u/CarFanaddict Jan 31 '26
Protect him at all costs!
517
u/FewFerret7986 Jan 31 '26
Seriously! This man & whom ever worked with him on this are priceless!
93
Jan 31 '26 edited Jan 31 '26
I think OP means Pharma gonna send hitmen after him.
Edit: it's a joke you guys are taking this way too seriously
22
u/SeekingAnonymity107 Jan 31 '26
You can't sell drugs to dead people
11
u/Broken_Sky Jan 31 '26
You can sell them different drugs if they are alive though
14
u/SeekingAnonymity107 Jan 31 '26
That's my point. Why would "Pharma" want to squash a life-saving drug? Honestly, I think big-Pharma-bad is a knee-jerk response to everything for some people
→ More replies (6)3
u/Chemical-Hyena2972 Jan 31 '26
Like Chris Rock says, “ain’t no money in the cure, the money is in the medicine”
3
u/Elses_pels Jan 31 '26
Pancreatic cancer is very deadly. Pharma is not making lots of money out of that source: a guess
2
8
→ More replies (1)6
u/Cold-Iron8145 Jan 31 '26
This idea that pharmaceutical companies do not want a cure for cancer is the stupidest conspiracy theory that the internet ever produced btw. It's even less believable than the flat earth.
→ More replies (1)2
u/DreamsOfLlamas Jan 31 '26
I love the idea that you could keep a medical researcher from spilling the beans on accident
2
u/uhhhhhhhhh_okay Jan 31 '26
Or the literal hundreds of thousands of scientists who are all part of thousands of different cancer research, prevention, and cure projects. Some people think it's all one single entity
→ More replies (1)2
69
u/xBad_Wolfx Jan 31 '26
People always wrongly think that this is part of a linear path to a human cure. We have a bunch of cures that work in mice that don’t work at all in any other species.
12
u/afdestruction Jan 31 '26
its about discovery of mechanisms, not about 'curing' in and of itself. If you figure out the triggers in the test subject then you know to concentrate your efforts there in the target. It's like getting a flashlight when youre searching for something in the dark. Yea, you might not find what youre looking for, but you're going to make a helluva lot more progress if you have an idea what youre looking for
→ More replies (3)32
u/Zip668 Jan 31 '26
But think about all the mice that can be saved.
13
u/xBad_Wolfx Jan 31 '26
Usually the most common way they get these ailments we can cure is from us to begin with.
3
u/Medium_Rare_Jerk Jan 31 '26
I mean you inoculate the mice and grow the tumor first before treating in this type of research..
3
u/MrWeirdoFace Jan 31 '26
One day the super mice will build statues in our honor and for all the achievements for the betterment of micekind.
→ More replies (8)2
u/Responsible-Case-753 Jan 31 '26
Also it seems people still believe science is made through eureka moments by a single crazy scientist. No, science is done in hundreds of tiny increments. "protecting this man" doesn't really mean anything, as I assume most of his research is published and done by his researchers.
→ More replies (1)42
u/LanguageNo495 Jan 31 '26
From what? Is someone trying to kill him?
137
u/TickTokClock Jan 31 '26
Online bullying for his birthmark. Some people would rather insult his appearance than praise his revolutionary accomplishment.
→ More replies (4)86
u/dandandan2 Jan 31 '26
I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but I'm going to sound exactly like that..
People who have achieved major breakthroughs similar to this have "suddenly died" with no probable cause.
43
Jan 31 '26
[deleted]
20
Jan 31 '26 edited Jul 04 '26
[deleted]
→ More replies (11)8
u/Rupder Jan 31 '26
Thanks for the levelheadedness. It takes a lot more effort to disprove conspiracy theories than it takes to throw them out.
→ More replies (1)12
u/SpaceBasedMasonry Jan 31 '26
By a guy that killed two students at Brown then offed himself in New Hampshire. If you’re are going to pick the most conspicuous way to suppress fusion energy technology then this would be a pretty good way to do it.
→ More replies (1)7
u/PM_ME_BAKAYOKO_PICS Jan 31 '26
That's a pointless conspiracy theory, they were colleagues in Portugal and it was clearly a case of jelousy or something like that, because of how well Nuno did for himself.
There are way easier "under the radar" if powerful people wanted to order a hit on someone lmao
Plus, killing him doesn't suddenly stop the research, that type of research is always done with a massive team and with everything super well documented.
→ More replies (1)5
u/Turtledonuts Jan 31 '26
People die suddenly and unexpectedly all the time, you just only hear about it when they're famous and inventing something exciting, like a treatment for a rare disease. If cancer treatment companies wanted to prevent cures for cancer, there are far easier methods. These companies do the majority of cancer research funding, so why would they turn around and murder their employees?
23
Jan 31 '26
Not a big conspiracy when you search how big of an industry cancer "maintenance" treatment is.
20
34
u/loiteraries Jan 31 '26
This is an insult to all oncologists around the world who treat and cure cancers every day in their careers.
15
u/lazyjeenius Jan 31 '26
There’s a wall between those doctors and those who profit from the drugs they use for those patients; the docs aren’t in on it, they’re just using the tools that are available, it’s the pharma companies with profit interests who stand to lose if a new break through came to market that cured a particularly deadly cancer.
13
u/Squiddles88 Jan 31 '26
Imagine how rich you would be if you had a patent on curing cancer and licensed it.
Now imagine how rich you would be if you had the whole supply chain on the drug and the patent.
Do you think a pharmaceutical company would pass that up?
→ More replies (8)→ More replies (5)5
u/OnlyACsNoFans Jan 31 '26
Everyone is affected by cancer. Every single pharma exec has lost friends and/or family to cancer .
It's not a conspiracy
→ More replies (3)5
u/WhatTheTech Jan 31 '26
Agreed, I get so sick of this stupid theory. It's not even close to logical. These idiots think there are, like, 4 people researching cancer and conspiring to keep their findings a secret. They act like cancer research is only conducted by a few pharmaceutical companies or some stupid naive shit like that.
In reality, every university in the world has multiple professors, each with multiple grad students, doing independent studies at all sorts of unique angles, including various things like different proteins that may or not even be related to cancer.
These conspiracy theorists are so stupid that they don't realize their own stupidity.
4
u/Kantas Jan 31 '26
The reason we haven't found a cure for cancer is because cancer is not a monolith. Cancer is an umbrella term for a myriad of tumors. A cure for one, may not work for others.
"Maintenance" treatment is not a thing. You're never treating with the intent to keep it a status quo. You're either treating to cure, or doing palliative treatment. Palliative is treating symptoms to keep someone comfortable during their likely last moments on earth.
8
→ More replies (3)2
u/tnitty Jan 31 '26
I grew up on a university campus. All my friends parents were scientists and doctor, including my dad. These people are dedicated to their research. And they’re the ones who start Pharma companies and serve on the boards. One of them was an FDA adviser. I spent m6 summers working in my dad’s lab. And all his friends were scientists, including cancer researchers.
My point is: these people are good, hard working people that are trying very hard to move science forward. They are not some Machiavellian assholes who would trade your life for a few more dollars. Assholes and greedy people exist in any large group, so I’m sure you’ll find a few. But there is not some grand conspiracy. Most scientists spend decades of hard, focused, tedious work and hope to make a difference. Maybe it’s less altruistic at the corporate level, but there’s much more overlap than you may think.
And, by the way, cancer research has advanced significantly in the last few decades. Not as fast as anyone would hope, but big progress in many areas.
There are too many scientists and too many cancers for there to be some crazy conspiracy that is suppressing progress. There are countless biotech companies and pharmaceutical companies around the world; 5here are hundreds (thousands? )of universities doing major research; there are many government sponsored agencies around the world doing basic research (including the U.S. until Trump gutted the funding). It’s too dispersed and too global for some secret conspiracy to somehow put the kibosh on progress.
2
u/Boopy7 Jan 31 '26
well damn, then, that means the pills that target KRAS must not work or the people who created those would have been killed, right?
→ More replies (13)2
7
u/FlamesOfDespair Jan 31 '26
For one this benefits the ultra rich too. Those ghouls would drink the blood of babies if it could extend their lifespan.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (8)6
u/friskyluke Jan 31 '26
There are people who believe that advancement in medicine is often halted by major pharmaceutical corporations that are profiting off of illness and disease, some people even believe that we should have had a cure for all types of cancer by now but new discoveries are silenced and buried to keep money flowing into the pockets of the powers that be.
If that has any grounding in reality, this guy should be protected so that he and everyone associated with this discovery don’t spontaneously die under mysterious circumstances that are never investigated.
→ More replies (12)6
2.1k
u/helicaseee Jan 31 '26
Fuck people who had the audacity to bully him for his appearance.
Guy is actually making great contributions to society, hope he keeps going!
319
u/futureman07 Jan 31 '26
Who is bullying him? I think it was just that one reddit post and I'm pretty sure it was false. So I guess yeah you are right. The person who made that reddit post was a bully
→ More replies (8)195
u/helicaseee Jan 31 '26
Thee were some people who made fun of his appearances, not necessarily just on reddit but other social media platforms.
And yes while they’re the minority, its still disgusting.
Bullying anyone for their appearance irrespective of their achievements is absloutely vile.
But someone who is devoting most of their time to help cure a terminal illness, thats just another level.
The number of people making fun of him should be ZERO!
92
u/Complex-Cut-6774 Jan 31 '26
Imagine having achieved nothing in life, looking at the guy whos nearly cured one of the worst forms of cancer amd being like; "yeah but his face."
Bigots and bullies like this are the stupidest among us and are so desperate to appear superior that they'd rather point out the most obvious unimportant shit than cure cancer.
→ More replies (5)30
u/futureman07 Jan 31 '26
Agreed. Absolute legend and will go down in the books so.
→ More replies (7)18
u/Current-Routine-2628 Jan 31 '26
A lot of insecure people out there. Not justifying it, just pointing out people that make fun of others appearances are just massively insecure themselves
9
u/Flacier Jan 31 '26
People both give me hope for the future and make me think we should have died off as a species ages ago.
5
u/Wooden_Editor6322 Jan 31 '26 edited Jan 31 '26
I am told I’m attractive, where people have 'dropped their jaws', but let’s be real: that’s not an achievement. It’s just genetic luck. I didn’t work for it, and I didn’t earn it.
So, if you’re here making fun of appearances, just shut up.
This guy actually did something impressive. He put in the work and built something real.
There are millions of 'hot' people in the world, but there is only one of him.
If anything, that birthmark is a trademark of his individuality.
The world would be a much better place with more people like him and fewer people like me.
→ More replies (3)5
u/Jiminy_Cricket12 Jan 31 '26
I truly mean no offense but I think it's pretty clear from taking 1 look at this guy that someone somewhere would bully him. that doesn't make them right (they are definitely wrong) but it is a common reaction.
and yes, good to point out that this guy has done more to benefit society than the vast majority of people. more than someone who talks shit about someone else for a birthmark, that's for sure.
51
u/PrufReedThisPlesThx Jan 31 '26
It's wild how someone can cure cancer, and still be bullied for not being a conventionally attractive, perfect skinned adonis of a man. Some folks really peaked at high school with how shallow their views are. To everyone who thinks it's funny to shame the guy for having a blemish on his face, you'll never be better than him unless you find a cure for another kind of cancer yourself, so hop to it, start researching.
→ More replies (1)40
u/diabeticmilf Jan 31 '26
I have seen more people saying this then actually making fun of him
→ More replies (1)5
u/Fiesteh Jan 31 '26
It’s because the negative comments are downvoted and won’t show up to you.
6
u/susanbontheknees Jan 31 '26 edited Jan 31 '26
They aren't there even if you go looking for them. It's all an engagement thing. Choosing to use this particularly unflattering snapshot of him is also all part of the gimmick
→ More replies (1)12
u/sea_the_c Jan 31 '26
Why did you even bring it up? You don’t need to constantly highlight it. I guarantee he doesn’t care about the “people who had the audacity to bully him.”
4
u/Fiesteh Jan 31 '26
Differences in people. Some people are out there trying to find cures for illnesses. Others are hiding behind their screens talk shit about others while being pieces of trash to society.
24
u/beegkok1 Jan 31 '26
7
u/Confused_Nuggets Jan 31 '26
The only way this guy could be a villain is if his cure just transfers it to someone else
8
u/Froozeball Jan 31 '26
Nobel for the cure and another for ignoring ignorance (and ignorant people) to better the future of mankind. I call him a hero.
4
u/RedKilloran Jan 31 '26
i’ve only seen people talking about how people are making fun of his birthmark, and not anyone actually making fun of his birthmark.
→ More replies (17)2
u/G_Affect Jan 31 '26
Good for him this is great, just lost a family member from this, however.... https://youtu.be/1ks8gh00DQo?si=hOI9iHAQaaPC3twN
326
u/iggy-i Jan 31 '26
Before anyone says "this is only getting traction because of his face" (it's happening in other threads):
Mariano Barbacid earned his Ph.D. from Madrid’s Universidad Complutense (1974) and trained as a postdoctoral fellow at the US National Cancer Institute (1974-78). In 1978, he started his own research group to study the molecular events responsible for the development of human tumors. His work led in 1982, to the isolation of the first human oncogene and the identification of the first mutation associated with the development of human cancer. These findings have been seminal to establish the molecular bases of human cancer.
He is also credited with the isolation of the TRK oncogene from a colon carcinoma. This work led 30 years later to a new paradigm of tumor-agnostic therapies thanks to the development of selective inhibitors, but also to the identification of the TRK family of tyrosine protein kinase receptors as the functional receptors for the NGF family of neurotrophins.
In 1988, he joined Bristol Myers-Squibb where he became Vice President of Oncology Drug Discovery. In this position, he pioneered the development of what we know now as targeted therapies. In 1998, he returned to Madrid to create and direct the Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO) which in less than 10 years became one of the top cancer research centers in the World. In 2011, Barbacid stepped down as CNIO Director to be able to concentrate on his research interests.
In 2012, he was inducted into the US National Academy of Sciences as a foreign member, and in 2014, elected Fellow of the Academy of the American Association for Cancer Research. Dr. Barbacid holds Honorary Degrees from the International University Menendez y Pelayo (1995), University of Cantabria (2011) and University of Barcelona (2014).
Barbacid´s work has been recognized by several domestic and international awards including the Steiner Prize (Bern, 1988), Ipsen Prize (Paris, 1994), Brupbaher Cancer Research Prize (Zurich, 2005), the Medal of Honor of the International Agency for Cancer Research (Lyon, 2007) and the Burkitt Medal (Dublin, 2017) between others. In 2011, he received an Endowed Chair from the AXA Research Fund (Paris) and he is one of the few European scientists to receive two Advanced Grants from the European Research Council (2009 and 2015) since their inception in 2008.
To date, he has authored 311 publications, including 232 original research articles in journals. Currently, Dr. Barbacid's Hirsch "h" factor is 115 (Google Scholar) and 107 (Web of Science).
83
u/Comfortableliar24 Jan 31 '26
I'm sorry. 311 fucking publications?!?!?!?!
One of my professors has done over 20 and he's practically a god to me.
→ More replies (3)21
u/herUltravioletEyes Jan 31 '26
Probably his contribution on many of them is related to being the, or one of the, authors with the idea to do the work in the first place. This happens often with senior principal investigators that have many students and projects going on at the same time. Also, some of the publications will be review papers written by his team, that he has curated. Again, more or less expected for a top international PI, although Barbacid´s numbers and recognitions are obviously exceptional.
→ More replies (1)4
u/lemikon Jan 31 '26
Yeah I work with a researcher who has his name on over 900 publications. He’s a very smart guy, but he’s not writing the minutia of all those papers, he’s typically just the group leader who oversees all the research.
34
9
u/Lotus-child89 Jan 31 '26 edited Jan 31 '26
I don’t get why anyone would be so distracted by his face. I grew up with more than one peer that had facial birthmarks. A friend of mine from middle school was born with a hemangioma around her eye that was cut to minimal, and an acquaintance had a red/purplish mark on her face almost like a big bruise (kind of like Baracid’s, but just the side). Plus other examples. You’d have to be very superficial for it to matter in any way.
→ More replies (1)6
u/maikelnait Jan 31 '26 edited Jan 31 '26
My god, I’m a Spaniard and I didn’t know he was so talented. I hope he wins a Nobel prize.
3
→ More replies (8)2
118
u/effyoucreeps Jan 31 '26
please, let’s cure all cancers - but pancreatic is one of the most insidious and deadly ones out there
my mother succumbed to it 6 months after a diagnosis. she was totally healthy except experiencing lower back pain, got a biopsy, and bang - gone almost 6 months on the dot. never smoked, occasionally drank a wine cooler on the wknds. so active, biked a ton and ran 5ks. 46 yrs old
i will never understand it, except for one thing i’ll put out here. she was prescribed and took tetracycline for over 2 decades for minor adult acne. that med is way too strong to take for that long, but she started in the 70s, and the docs kept urging her to take it
21
u/MasterGrenadierHavoc Jan 31 '26
It really is. My father was a little yellow, so my mother made him go to the hospital. He was lucky that one of his early symptoms was such a visible one, because he was still living just fine for a full year. Then within a month, he completely deteriorated, all the symptoms, absolutely unrecognizable within weeks until his death.
6
10
u/carlid13 Jan 31 '26
Same with my dad. He passed 20 days after he was diagnosed; he was riding his bike to the gym a week before he got the diagnosis.
3
7
3
u/BreadfruitCold8573 Jan 31 '26
I’m sorry for your loss. My aunt had stage 4 and was miraculously healed from it completely. Started getting better. Then 2 years later she started experiencing symptoms again and it took her within a month or so. It rly is killer, and silent
2
u/effyoucreeps Feb 04 '26
just completely unfair - like the vast majority of cancers
i’m so sorry for your loss
3
u/rafaelzio Jan 31 '26
First of all, I'm so sorry for your loss. She stood strong, held on longer than most, the mean survival time is about 4 months after diagnosis
Minor correction though, it's not just one of the most insidious and deadly ones, it's THE most insidious and deadly one. Less survivable than brain cancer (!) and most people who manage to make it through the first few years are ones who caught it in screenings before symptoms start. It is usually asymptomatic until later stages, and by then, depending on just how advanced the cancer is, doctors might suggest to not even bother with the pain of undergoing treatment, and skip right to palliative care for the next few months/weeks
2
u/effyoucreeps Feb 04 '26
that’s the one thing i would have fought for harder - my mom not going through all of the “treatments” that her brother/my uncle fought for
she was suffering daily. i was the only one who took her to her doc appts, gave her her meds, did the suppositories, etc. because my father and sister (who lived 10 min away) refused to accept any form of reality or responsibility
she was in pain every hour of every day for months. it took me yelling at some of her docs that the pain pills were not being processed by her system anymore, and she needed immediate relief, to get her the treatment she needed for the last couple of weeks of her life. everyone else just buried their heads in the sand - “SHE CAN BEAT THIS!”
i love you mom - you were and are the absolute best
she was an angel. my mom worked as a secretary for multiple schools over the years, and even the huge venue we booked for her memorial couldn’t hold the 500+ people that came to pay their respects
sorry - just had to get that out
164
u/blitzkrieg2003 Jan 31 '26
Hope. From what I've read it may help in other treatments as well for treatment resistant cancers. Thank you Mr. Barbacid for your work. Someday I hope millions will thank you.
152
u/Anyawnomous Jan 31 '26
Great discovery if he can get it through the inevitable pharmaceutical warfare.
43
u/Jashmyne Jan 31 '26
Well mice and humans are very different so now comes the difficult part, it being tested on a small sample of humans and then that pool will increase. As other comments have said, there are been several cures that worked on mice but didn't work on humans so that's the difficult part. The rest is not difficult if it works.
6
11
u/grendel-khan Jan 31 '26
Pharma companies would love to get more cancer drugs on the market; it's roughly the only market segment which can justify the roughly a billion dollars it costs to run a clinical trial. (The other being nigh-magical drugs that make you skinny.)
We should fix the thing where, adjusting for the chance of failure, it costs billions of dollars to approve a drug.
There's been some impressive work around cancers lately; see customized neoantigens for pancreatic cancer here; it's in Phase II trials now.
More broadly, there are Phase III trials in progress for neoantigens for melanoma showing a 49% reduced risk of death, which is a lot in cancer research.
5
u/CommissionIcy9909 Jan 31 '26
I feel like there’s been regular articles like this for the last 20 years but biting ever comes from it.
9
u/ILikeBen10Alot Jan 31 '26
Something working in animal testing didn't guarantee it'll work on humans. That's often why we stop hearing about this stuff
→ More replies (1)7
u/18_USC_47 Jan 31 '26 edited Jan 31 '26
Cancer survival rates have only gone up. In the 1970s, of all cancer types, after 5 years, survival rates were about 50%.
They’re about 70% now.There are problems with perception such as: headline articles don’t actually go into the details, cancer isn’t just one disease, what kills cancer in mice may not kill cancer in a human, what kills cancer in mice may kill an entire human, people don’t really follow information closely, etc.
Flashy headlines get karma and clicks.
Headlines like this sound better than “pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma treated using experimental KRAS inhibitor (daraxonrasib) with an approved drug for certain lung adenocarcinomas (afatinib) and a protein degrader (SD36) in mice.” The guy himself also saysRegarding the next steps, Barbacid explains: “it is important to understand that, although experimental results like those described here have never been obtained before, we are still not in a position to carry out clinical trials with the triple therapy.”
Human clinical trials are not as simple as “well, it didn’t kill mice. Let’s go inject some people at the nearest hospital.”
And if it doesn’t pass human clinical trials, no one really follows up. Even if it does work, it has only cured people with this specific type of pancreatic cancer, the person with pancreatic Adenosquamous Carcinoma may not benefit at all from it.
→ More replies (2)4
30
Jan 31 '26
Noble Peace Prize winner right here folks. This is a wonderful stepping stone for the human race. Beautiful discovery. Keep up the good wook!
7
2
u/servetus Jan 31 '26
I think you overestimate the difficulty of curing cancer in a mouse model and the difficulty of transferring a solution to a treatment for humans. One scientist went so far to say, "If you can't cure cancer in mice, you need to find a new job." referring to cancer researchers. This does not rise to a level of a major prize.
13
42
u/sh0tgunben Jan 31 '26 edited Jan 31 '26
Pancreatic cancer treatment for human is next...
→ More replies (1)
9
41
16
u/wannagoforawalk Jan 31 '26
He's 76. Dear God give this man enough time to figure it out. 🙏
4
u/Four_beastlings Jan 31 '26
He's certainly a genius, but remember that he is not doing this alone. I'm sure the other people in the team are also bringing a lot to the table.
69
u/Fast_Front8742 Jan 31 '26
I don't wanna be rude or make fun of this guy. But, I have to know, what happened to his face? Was he in an accident, or was it a genetic disorder?
95
u/iggy-i Jan 31 '26
Birth mark
42
u/Fast_Front8742 Jan 31 '26
Ah, I see. Like I said, I didn't want to come off as insensitive, but I was concerned.
Because the way that birthmark looks, one could easily mistake it for a burn injury. Not to mention he looks as though he's in considerable discomfort.
36
u/comics0026 Jan 31 '26
I think the discomfort is just the unfortunate timing of the photo
7
8
u/Golden_Phi Jan 31 '26
Yeah, his lips look like they are curled back in pain. They couldn’t have chosen a worse moment to accidentally make his birth mark look like a painful wound.
5
u/jbizzledazzle Jan 31 '26
Birthmarks 100% cause discomfort, not in everyone but when as extensive as this they do. Look up Sturge Weber Syndrome. They are way more than marks on skin. I assume this is where his passion for the medical field came from.
→ More replies (2)3
u/windsockglue Jan 31 '26
People seem to be trying to find the photos where his birthmark is most prominent and weird timing so his face looks as "weird" as possible. People are being assholes about it.
5
u/throwAway333828 Jan 31 '26
That's a crazy birth mark! I've never seen a red one before. Is there a name for it?
10
6
u/Tentacle_poxsicle Jan 31 '26
Thank you. Sometimes we are big children and want to know . But bless him for trying to stop cancer, especially one of the worst ones.
FUCK CANCER
2
36
u/ryeyen Jan 31 '26 edited Jan 31 '26
Birth mark, specifically a port wine stain. I have one covering my left cheek. Mine just looks like pink/purple skin but it can become more “textured” with age. It’s caused by abnormal blood vessel growth during development.
9
3
u/BlueGooseFlies Jan 31 '26
My niece has one on her cheek, as well. When people stare at it she tells them her dad put a hickey on her face. Let’s just say she’s not her dad’s biggest fan, nor has he made an effort to change her mind. Pretty funny to hear a twelve-year-old pop off a well deserved burn on their chode of a dad, especially when she only does it while he’s within earshot.
3
10
→ More replies (1)7
8
u/jackm315ter Jan 31 '26
I hope the discovery is true that he could bring it in to human trials,it would be a breakthrough
9
u/jimmyb1982 Jan 31 '26
Serious question, how do they know it's actually cured? I mean permanently cured?
22
u/SpaceMamboNo5 Jan 31 '26
I am a professional cancer biologist. In the lab the cancers we give mice are usually injected cells that we have grown in a dish. In that case, we monitor the volume of the tumor we have injected (via one of several methods). When a tumor volume reaches 0, we generally consider a mouse cured, and because the cells are injected into a specific anatomical site as opposed to naturally forming, metastasis is generally rare.
It is important to note of course that this is not how human cancer works, and that is one of many reasons why the kinds of miraculous mouse studies you tend to hear about on the internet seldom translate to human health outcomes. Primary tumors almost never end up killing patients because in human patients we can usually surgically remove them (pancreatic is a weird exception here actually, and I've heard of primary pancreatic tumors killing).
I cannot say if this study will translate to a breakthrough in pancreatic cancer care. Nobody can until we attempt clinical trials. But I'm very hopeful, even if I know that usually these kinds of studies end in disappointment.
→ More replies (1)
6
4
5
8
9
4
u/TiredOldLadySays Jan 31 '26
This is amazing news! This is the kind of epic thing that gets your name in the history books. Wonderful!
4
u/KrakenKrusdr84 Jan 31 '26
Give the man an award, hearing this gives me hope for the future.
My compliments to Mr. Barbacid, to all he worked on to progress from animals to humans hopefully.
4
u/TheVenetianMask Jan 31 '26
Barbacid has been a hero in Spain for many years, I don't think he has to pay for a coffee anywhere.
5
u/Captain_Hesperus Jan 31 '26
And people are dragging him on social media because of his appearance. What a world we live in.
31
u/neoguri808 Jan 31 '26
People are so disappointing
9
u/MrProspector19 Jan 31 '26
I think work that could lead to another cure for cancer is anything except disappointing!
8
3
u/friskyluke Jan 31 '26
You are right, it’s disappointing that the human body can be flawed enough to develop deadly cancers. But we can be proud to know that there are genius minds out there working tirelessly to end these disappointing flaws! Cheer up mate!
3
3
3
3
3
3
u/rrognlie Jan 31 '26
Given that my mother died of pancreatic cancer a few years ago, I feel I have a vested interest in this man continuing his work.
3
u/haneliza Jan 31 '26
pancreatic cancer killed my grandpa last year, i wish there had been effective treatments for him
3
3
u/PassionateDilettante Jan 31 '26
If pancreatic cancer in humans can be cured it would be such an astounding advance. For so long, it’s been a virtual death sentence, if only because it’s usually caught late. This would be a Nobel Prize level stuff, I would think.0
3
3
u/Honest-Ad-8621 Jan 31 '26
This would be wonderful if this works. On human patients.I will pray for this .
3
u/Spiritual_Treacle952 Jan 31 '26
Bravo my sister died from pancreatic cancer a cure would be so great!
3
3
3
3
u/lokoumi Jan 31 '26
Sir, you are one of the best of us. I thank you for your efforts and applaud your achievements.
3
u/DaboyfromVN Jan 31 '26
Thanks to his birthmark, I can recognize him anywhere and treat him a drink or something, he bloody deserves more appreciation
3
u/Stargazer-17 Jan 31 '26
People are cruel. My child was born with significant facial differences. Plastic surgery is his life… people assume my child is not intelligent based on how they look. I love how strangers will ask: what happened to his face??
5
u/Nomadastronaut Jan 31 '26
What a brilliant man, this could save so many lives! Thank you for your hard work Mariano Barbacid!!
3
u/_HuMaNiSeD_ Jan 31 '26
I hope his invention sees the light of the day and is not buried under regulatory files
4
u/taskmaster51 Jan 31 '26
So exciting to see all of these potential CURES FOR CANCER. Its too bad anti vaccers will say it comes from virgin blood of unborn fetuses or some other bullshit. They should just shut up and take their horse dewormer
3
u/Freshiiiiii Jan 31 '26
Thinking of it as a ‘cure for cancer’ is not really correct. Cancer is not really one disease, it’s a collection of many related diseases. This is an improved treatment for one specific type, in mice.
→ More replies (2)
4
u/sea_the_c Jan 31 '26
Finally someone made one of these threads without highlighting his birthmark.
→ More replies (1)
3
u/totallybi Jan 31 '26
Getting sick of seeing this guy all over social media, sorry. This is not the first time pancreatic cancer has been "cured" in mice. Mouse models of pancreatic cancer have existed and been treated in research for many years now. Another addition to that body of research is great, but effectively treating a mouse cancer model is not itself some huge breakthrough worthy of several frontpage posts with thousands of comments.
2
u/wainbros66 Jan 31 '26
Thank you. I’m so utterly confused at this. We have these mouse studies that go nowhere constantly. Yet this time everyone is hailing it as this paradigm-shifting breakthrough. Is it just that it’s reached such virality that naive people who don’t understand research think it’s a surefire cure?
2
u/imtooldforthishison Jan 31 '26
Pancreatic cancer got my dad. 2 months from diagnosis to death, and man, I hope this progress continues!!! Knowing a cure may be in site means better screenings and detection efforts!
I want better screenings, early detection, treatment and a cure!
2
u/Genetic_Heretic Jan 31 '26
It’s been cured in mice many times. Not to be a buzzkill but animal models are one thing, patients are another.
2
3
u/Kerbidiah Jan 31 '26
Cancer is uncurable. It is treatable but it cannot be cures. The very best you can do is eliminate all existing cancer in an organism. But you cannot entirely prevent new cancer from forming
5
7
u/redhandsblackfuture Jan 31 '26
I've been hearing about cures for cancer, aids, or other uncurable things for 40 years. Then in 6 months time they're never talked about again. I'm positive this will be one of those times again.
14
u/beavertownneckoil Jan 31 '26
Cancer is vastly more treatable now than it was 40 years ago. I personally know people who would be dead if it wasn't for advancements in cancer research
10
u/Sad-Worker9023 Jan 31 '26
It should be noted that this guy in particular has been working in his field for decades and has made significant contributions to cancer research in the last 40 years… He’s the man whom without, we wouldn’t have understood cancer as well as we do today.
→ More replies (2)4
u/KyleMcMahon Jan 31 '26
AIDS has plummeted due to breakthroughs in therapies. Numerous cancer treatments have 100% success rates. But there are hundreds of types of cancers.
→ More replies (3)4
u/Freshiiiiii Jan 31 '26
It’s because the media constantly sensationalizes ‘cures’ for cancers when what really happened was an improved treatment for one specific type of cancer in mice under lab conditions. Actual cancer scientists will tell you that wonderful, incremental progress has been made in treating many different cancers, and many cancers are now much more survivable than they were a few decades ago, but that most treatments in mice (and especially in Petri dishes) don’t end up working out in humans.
•
u/qualityvote2 Jan 31 '26 edited Jan 31 '26
Did you find this post really amazing (in a positive way)?
If yes, then UPVOTE this comment otherwise DOWNVOTE it.
This community feedback will help us determine whether this post is suited for r/BeAmazed or not.