The prognosis that accompanies a pancreatic cancer diagnosis is typically grim, largely because the disease often shows few or no symptoms until it has reached an advanced stage and metastasized.
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, as many as 80 percent of pancreatic cancer cases are diagnosed at later stages. Advanced stage disease is difficult to treat, and in the case of pancreatic cancer, tumors are often resistant to therapy or inoperable.
But a group of Israeli researchers say that a new treatment known as Diffusing Alpha Emitters Radiation Therapy, or Alpha DaRT, offers an alternative that is highly potent and effective in treating tumors, while sparing healthy tissue.
How it Works
According to Alpha Tau Medical, a medical device company that developed the technology, Alpha DaRT is an alpha emitter radiotherapy delivered by inserting alpha dart “seeds” into the tumor. These seeds have radium 224 atoms (an isotope of radium, meaning it is a variant of the element radium with a specific atomic mass of 224) fixed to their surface.
Radium undergoes radioactive decay, after which point it divides into two parts – one part is called radiation and the other part is called a daughter.
With Alpha DaRT, when the radium decays, its “short-lived” daughters are released from the seed and disperse in the tumor, emitting high-energy alpha particles, which destroy the tumor.
Since the alpha-emitting atoms “hardly diffuse in healthy tissue,” the Alpha DaRT primarily affects the tumor and spares the healthy tissue around it.
The Alpha DaRT seeds can be inserted through applicators, developed for different anatomical locations. Alpha Tau says these applicators are easy to use and “ultra-minimally invasive.”
Among the key advantages of Alpha DaRT technology, Alpha Tau lists:
- Highly potent and conformal
- Proven efficacy for all solid tumors tested
- Effective regardless of tumor oxygen level
- Short half-life
- Quick clinical outcomes
- Single session treatment
- Ability to enable combination with other therapies or reapplication.
The Study
In order to determine the feasibility, safety, and tumor response of delivering Alpha DaRT to the pancreas, a team of researchers from Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center enrolled patients treated with Alpha DaRT to the pancreas across two distinct protocols, which they referred to as “PANC” and “ALL.”
Those in the “PANC” protocol had biopsy-proven adenocarcinoma – either unresectable, recurrent, or metastatic – who were unfit for standard treatment. Those in the ALL group were characterized by “malignancy with a targetable lesion and permitted concurrent systemic therapy.” Researchers also noted that, “only patients from the ALL protocol with biopsy-proven adenocarcinoma treated to the primary pancreatic lesion were included.”
According to the researchers, the primary objective for both protocols was to “assess the safety of Alpha DaRT delivery to the target lesion via EUS [Endoscopic ultrasound],” while the secondary objective was to “evaluate initial tumor response using the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) at 1 and 3 months post-Alpha DaRT source insertion.”
Key Findings
Last week, at the 2025 ASCO Gastrointestinal (GI) Cancers Symposium, the research team presented some key findings and data from the study, which highlight Alpha DaRT’s potential as a promising new treatment.
These findings include:
- Alpha DaRT placement via endoscopy was successful in all patients (100%), with manageable acute toxicities (fever, fatigue, pain) and no long-term toxicities observed.
- Of 8 evaluable patients, 100% achieved local control, with 75% showing stable disease and 25% exhibiting partial response; one patient had a complete metabolic response.
The Bottom Line
While the researchers note that extended follow-up and expanded studies are needed in order to validate their findings, these initial results show significant promise for Alpha DaRT as a revolutionary new treatment of internal organ tumors – a development that could offer renewed hope to cancer patients with limited treatment options.
