The Cancer Council’s Daffodil Day was held on Friday August 25, with money raised from the purchase of daffodils and associated merchandise, going towards valuable medical research into cancer, prevention, education and support services. Over the years cancer research has made some extraordinary breakthroughs, with treatments becoming more successful. Money raised through this year’s Daffodil Day, will help fund research into low-survival cancers, such as pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal forms of cancer, with around only 6% of people in Australia, surviving past five years. In a statement put out by the Cancer Council, new research has revealed a promising new approach to treat pancreatic cancer. Professor Minoti Apte and her team at UNSW Sydney were behind a recent research breakthrough that found that cells in the tissue surrounding cancer cells in the pancreas actively help the tumour grow and spread. These cells are called pancreatic stellate cells. “The analogy that we use is that we can’t just treat the seed (i.e. the cancerous cells) – we now know that the soil (i.e. the cells around the tumour) needs to be targeted too,” said Professor Apte. Now, the team has released the first results from tests of a two-pronged treatment approach in a pre-clinical model of pancreatic cancer, which resulted in the greatest reduction in tumour size and also led to metastases (cancer spread) almost completely disappearing. “Our results show that a combined approach of blocking the action of a growth factor produced by pancreatic stellate cells around the tumour, in addition to standard chemotherapies, offered the highest possible reduction in cancer growth,” Professor Apte said. “What we hope to do next is to comprehensively test these findings in our laboratory in order to obtain robust evidence that will form the basis for clinical trials – we need to prove that what we have found works in practice.” Each year Daffodil Day brings hope for a brighter future that we will one day find a cure for this insidious disease, thanks to the money raised in support of research. For more information: www.daffodilday.com.au or call 1300 65 65 85.