The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), an affiliate of City of Hope, in association with HonorHealth Research and Innovation Institute and Systems Biology Ireland (SBI), have begun a clinical trial, testing the combination of two drugs against advanced pancreatic cancer, one of the most deadly and difficult-to-treat malignancies.

The trial combines two drugs — Vemurafenib and Sorafenib — to treat advanced pancreatic cancer in patients whose cancer has spread following conventional chemotherapy.

The trial is named for Dr. Nate Nieto, a Northern Arizona University (NAU) microbiologist known for his insights into infectious diseases and wildlife ecology. He was a frequent collaborator with TGen on infectious-disease investigations, including those involving hantavirus and Lyme disease. Dr. Nieto succumbed to advanced pancreatic cancer in 2019 at age 44, at the height of his research career.

In the wake of his illness, Dr. Nieto’s friends came together and used their expertise in systems biology, mathematics and computational biology to find a new way to target pancreatic cancer. Their efforts identified Vemurafenib and Sorafenib as a drug combination that would target the KRAS gene, and resulted in a new mathematical modelling system to predict the effectiveness of this drug combination. KRAS mutations act as molecular on/off switches for this disease, and are believed responsible for up to 90% of pancreatic cancers.