A combination treatment exposed hidden pancreatic cancer cells to the immune system, reduced their spread, and helped mice live longer.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota Medical School have uncovered one reason pancreatic cancer is so difficult for the immune system to recognize and attack. The discovery points to a potential way to make immunotherapy more effective against a disease that has historically resisted many immune-based treatments.

The findings, published in Science Immunology, show that some pancreatic cancer cells can avoid destruction by shutting down the molecular system that normally reveals them to immune cells. Once these cells become harder to detect, they are more likely to survive, spread, and establish tumors elsewhere in the body.