Behind the Mystery: NRG1 Fusions

Only between five and ten percent of pancreatic cancer patients survive five years after diagnosis. To increase those odds, doctors are focusing more on genetic abnormalities that cause this deadly cancer. One of them is NRG1 fusions, rare oncogenic drivers in different solid tumors like cancer of the pancreas, lung, colon, prostate, and breast.

In patients that have NRG1 fusions, too much of the growth factor NRG1 (sometimes called heregulin) may be produced, which is capable of causing cancer cells to grow and divide in an uncontrolled manner. Blocking NRG1 and its cancer-driving activity with medicine may help fight a patient’s cancer.

We’ll hear more from Dr. Manuel Hidalgo and a patient who was diagnosed with NRG1 fusion pancreatic cancer.