Northwestern Medicine’s new antibody wakes the immune system against pancreatic cancer

Northwestern Medicine’s new antibody wakes the immune system against pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer’s sugar-coated invisibility cloak may finally be coming off-thanks to a new antibody that reawakens the immune system. Date: January 15, 2026 Source: Northwestern University Summary: Pancreatic cancer uses a sugar-coated disguise to evade the immune system, helping explain why it’s so hard to treat. Northwestern scientists discovered this hidden mechanism and created an antibody that strips away the tumor’s protective signal. In animal tests, immune cells sprang back into action and tumors grew much more slowly. The team is now refining the therapy for future human trials. Share: Scientists at Northwestern have uncovered a clever trick that helps pancreatic cancer hide from the immune system -- and a potential way to stop it. Pancreatic cancer remains one of the most lethal cancers, often found too late and difficult to treat with current therapies Researchers uncovered a sugar-based coating that allows pancreatic tumors to hide from the immune system An experimental antibody removed that disguise, allowing immune cells to attack the cancer and slow tumor growth in mice The research team is now refining the antibody and preparing for early studies in humans Pancreatic cancer is one of the most difficult cancers to treat, in part because it often does not respond to even the most advanced immune-based therapies. Scientists at Northwestern Medicine have now uncovered a key reason why. Their research shows that pancreatic tumors use a sugar-based disguise to avoid detection by the immune system. The team also developed an experimental antibody that blocks this deceptive signal and allows immune cells to recognize the cancer again. The researchers identified this immune evasion strategy for the first time and demonstrated that interfering with it using a monoclonal antibody can restore immune activity. In preclinical mouse studies, immune cells became active again and began attacking cancer cells. "It took our team about six years to uncover this novel mechanism, develop the right antibodies and test them," said study senior author Mohamed Abdel-Mohsen, associate professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "Seeing it work was a major breakthrough." The findings were published in the journal Cancer Research (published by the American Association for Cancer Research). Why Pancreatic Cancer Evades Treatment Pancreatic cancer remains among the deadliest forms of cancer. It is frequently diagnosed at an advanced stage, offers limited treatment options, and has a five-year survival rate of only 13%. Unlike some other cancers, it often does not respond well to immunotherapies. One reason is that immune activity inside pancreatic tumors is unusually low. "We set out to learn why, and whether we could flip that environment, so immune cells attack tumor cells instead of ignoring or even helping them," Abdel-Mohsen said. The research team discovered that pancreatic tumors take advantage of a protective system normally used by healthy cells. Under normal circumstances, healthy cells display a sugar called sialic acid on their surface. This sugar sends a signal to...

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