Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Year in Review
  • Published:

Pancreatic cancer in 2017

Rebooting pancreatic cancer knowledge and treatment options

Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology volume 15, pages 76–78 (2018)Cite this article

Subjects

High stromal cellularity in pancreatic cancer is an important factor for ineffective treatment and molecular studies. In 2017, major advancements were made in transcriptional characterization, treatment delivery and clinical regimes, raising hope for a breakthrough against this deadly disease.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Selected advances in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma during 2017.

References

  1. Kleeff, J. et al. Pancreatic cancer. Nat. Rev. Dis. Primers 2, 16022 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Bailey, P. et al. Genomic analyses identify molecular subtypes of pancreatic cancer. Nature 531, 47–52 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Cancer Genome Atlas Research Network. Integrated genomic characterization of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Cancer Cell 32, 185–203.e13 (2017).

  4. Lord, C. J. & Ashworth, A. PARP inhibitors: synthetic lethality in the clinic. Science 355, 1152–1158 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Xiong, Y. et al. Covalent guanosine mimetic inhibitors of G12C KRAS. ACS Med. Chem. Lett. 8, 61–66 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Xue, W. et al. Small RNA combination therapy for lung cancer. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 11, E3553–E3561 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Kamerkar, S. et al. Exosomes facilitate therapeutic targeting of oncogenic KRAS in pancreatic cancer. Nature 546, 498–503 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Chao, M. P., Weissman, I. L. & Majeti, R. The CD47-SIRPα pathway in cancer immune evasion and potential therapeutic implications. Curr. Opin. Immunol. 24, 225–232 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Commisso, C. et al. Macropinocytosis of protein is an amino acid supply route in Ras-transformed cells. Nature 497, 633–637 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Neoptolemos, J. P. et al. Comparison of adjuvant gemcitabine and capecitabine with gemcitabine monotherapy in patients with resected pancreatic cancer (ESPAC-4): a multicentre, open-label, randomised, phase 3 trial. Lancet 389, 1011–1024 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors are supported by DFG grant (German research Foundation) SE-2616/2-1 (Germany) to A.S. and U01DK108328, U01CA117969, U01CA196403, and P01CA117969 to A.M.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sheikh Ahmed Pancreatic Cancer Research Center, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Boulevard, Houston, 77030, Texas, USA

    Alexander Semaan & Anirban Maitra

Authors
  1. Alexander Semaan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Anirban Maitra
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anirban Maitra.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

PowerPoint slides

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Semaan, A., Maitra, A. Rebooting pancreatic cancer knowledge and treatment options. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 15, 76–78 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrgastro.2017.182

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrgastro.2017.182

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing: Translational Research

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Translational Research newsletter — top stories in biotechnology, drug discovery and pharma.

Get what matters in translational research, free to your inbox weekly. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Translational Research