Section Review: Oncologic, Endocrine & Metabolic: Future directions for the treatment of human pancreatic carcinoma

Abstract

Pancreatic cancer is the fifth leading cause of death from malignant disease in the Western world. The majority of patients with carcinoma of the exocrine pancreas haveunresectable, incurable disease at the time of diagnosis. At present, no medical treatment can be considered as standard therapy in advanced or locally unresectable pancreatic carcinoma. Since no chemotherapeutic regimen has been demonstrated to offer a clear survival benefit for these patients, future clinical trials should be designed to evaluate quality of life and palliation of symptoms, such as recent observations with gemcitabine, a novel nucleoside analogue. In this review, recent developments in our understanding of the biology and pathogenesis of pancreatic carcinoma are described. Future progress in the cellular and molecular aspects of this disease may lead to potential new remedies.