Molecular Basis of Pancreatic Cancer: Strategies for Genetic Diagnosis and Therapy

Cancer is essentially a genetic disease, and tumour progression occurs as a multistep process with the accumulation of multiple genetic abnormalities that lead to an unstable malignant genotype. The molecular biology of pancreatic cancer is still poorly understood, though recently significant progress has been made with the identification of at least four genes involved in tumorigenesis. The genetic profile of pancreatic cancer not only involves proto-oncogene activation, and loss of tumour suppressor gene function but also derangement of the signal transduction systems for growth factors and their receptors.