Pancreatic Disorders & Therapy
Open Access

Abstract

Pancreatic Cancer: Specific Problems of Genetic Profiling

Beatrice Mohelnikova-Duchonova

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States and Europe. The prognosis of patients with pancreatic cancer remains extremely poor, with five-year survival being less than 5%. The most serious problems of pancreatic cancer are: i/ late diagnosis due to absence tests allowing early detection of the tumor, ii/ poor prognosis, which does not correlate with classic clinical factors and iii/ very limited efficacy of chemotherapy, which usually works in other tumor types. From existing data, it is evident that molecular factors such as genetic profiles, proteins expression and their activity exist and need to be validated and additional ones discovered for use in more precise division of patients into prognostic subgroups as well as it is imperative to identify subgroups of patients who may benefit from specific biological agents and “tailor” therapy to their “tumor profile”.