Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) is one of the most deadly human cancers, and there are no clinically effective treatment options for this condition.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is the most common type of pancreatic cancer, can occur anywhere along the pancreas, is very aggressive and can spread rapidly to surrounding organs and the liver.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is characterized by severe inflammatory stroma, poor vascularization, disorganized nutrient levels, and rich deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) components.

The microenvironment (the microenvironment around the tumor, including blood vessels, immune cells, and fibroblasts) of a pancreatic tumor is highly stromal, meaning that the mass itself is composed mostly of connective tissue and noncancerous immune cells.

Hyaluronic acid or hyaluronan (HA), a major stromal component, has been shown to play a major role in promoting tumorigenesis and disease progression.

Hyaluronic acid, or HA, is known to be present in pancreatic tumors, but a new study by researchers at the University of Michigan’s Rogel Cancer Center shows that hyaluronic acid also acts as a food for cancer cells.

The findings were recently published in the journal eLife and provide interesting insight into how pancreatic cancer cells grow, suggesting new possibilities for their treatment.

Principal investigator Dr. Costas Lisiotis and his study team looked at the metabolism of pancreatic cancer in preclinical models: how cells obtain nutrients and the spectrum of nutrients they use to fuel growth and enable therapeutic resistance.

Many people take hyaluronic acid supplements for their dermatological benefits, especially in relieving dry skin, reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, and accelerating wound healing.

It can also help relieve joint pain in people with osteoarthritis.

Hyaluronic acid is a substance found naturally in the skin, eyes and joints. Its primary function is to trap water within tissue cells and maintain joint lubrication, which, according to the recent study, may be the driving factor for the increase in pancreatic cancer tumors.

The stroma occurs in the body’s natural scarring process, and “when these scars form, a lot of hyaluronic acid is released,” Lysiotis explained.

Hyaluronic acid attracts and retains water. When there’s too much, pancreatic tumors become very dense, veins collapse and blood flows out.

These tumors become very difficult, says Lysiotis. “It’s not that there are no veins or arteries inside the tumor. But the blood vessels that are there can’t handle the intense pressure.”

Lisiotis and his lab wanted to understand hyaluronic acid beyond its contribution to the physiological formation of pancreatic cancer cells.

The team took into account the density of these tumors, when examining the question: “If cancer cells do not have access to nutrients derived from the blood, how do they obtain the nutrients that fuel the growth of cells and become tumors?”

The cells that make up the tumor are a mixture of many different types of cells, some malignant and others benign.

The pancreatic tumor microenvironment is composed predominantly of connective tissue and non-cancerous immune cells. This new work suggests that unidirectional cells do this by cleaning up hyaluronic acid itself.

“Hyaluronic acid not only affects tumors by creating this density, which makes it difficult to treat,” Lysiotis said. “It’s literally a chain of sugars. Looking back, it stands to reason that malignant cells are also nourished by hyaluronic acid.”

This study shows how well pancreatic cancer cells search for nutrients in order to keep them alive and growing, says Lysiotis.

It is important to know the basic symptoms of pancreatic cancer, which include abdominal pain that extends to the back, loss of appetite, jaundice, light-colored stools, dark urine or itchy skin.