Recently, a collaborative team led by Professor Changhua Zhang from The Seventh Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU), in partnership with Professor Shaozhen Lin from School of Physics at SYSU and the team of Academician Axel Behrens from The Institute of Cancer Research, has achieved a major breakthrough in pancreatic cancer research. The study for the first time identifies the critical role of osteopontin (SPP1) in regulating mesenchymal cell fate in pancreatic cancer and proposes an innovative therapeutic strategy to reverse pancreatic cancer progression by targeted inhibition of osteopontin. The research paper, titled “SPP1 is required for maintaining mesenchymal cell fate in pancreatic cancer”, was published in Nature on September 24, 2025.

Model for the mechanism of Spp1, Bmp2 and Grem1 in maintaining cellular heterogeneity in pancreatic cancer

Link to the paper：https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09574-y