The aforementioned results indicate that KIS37 administration is a novel therapeutic strategy for targeting PDK4 in KRAS-activated intractable human pancreatic cancer.
The clinicopathologic implications of p53 abnormalities and their effects on the efficacy of the adjuvant chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer remain controversial.
Despite the near universal occurrence of activating codon 12 KRAS somatic variants in pancreatic cancer, there is considerable heterogeneity in the molecular make-up, MAPK/ERK pathway activation states, and clinical outcome in this disease.
This study confirms that loss of chromosomes, particularly chromosomes 17 and 18, which carry the p53 and DCC genes, are common in pancreas cancer.Chromosome 20 is also frequently lost.
Inactivating mutations of the tumour suppressor genes TP53, CDKN2 and SMAD4 are also frequently observed and this constellation of genetic defects sets pancreatic cancer apart from other types of cancer, a feature which could have important implications for molecular diagnosis.
In this study, we investigated the relationship between SRPK2, Numb and p53 in the development of pancreatic cancer with or without chemical agent treatment in vitro.
As a central player in TGF-β signal transduction, SMAD4 (also known as DPC4) is frequently mutated or deleted in gastrointestinal and pancreatic cancer.
The difference between smokers and nonsmokers was not driven by mutations in known driver genes in pancreatic cancer (KRAS, TP53, CDKN2A/p16, and SMAD4), but instead was predominantly observed in genes mutated at lower frequency.
Mechanisms of resistance to TGF-beta caused by modulation of cell cycle regulators and/or inactivation of components of the TGF-beta signaling transduction pathway such as C-myc and Smad4 have been demonstrated in human pancreatic cancer and squamous cell carcinoma cell lines.
The most consistently mutated genes are <i>KRAS, CDKN2A, TP53</i>, and <i>SMAD4/DPC4</i> Study of familial PDAC has led to the recognition that a variety of defects in DNA repair genes can be associated with the emergence of pancreatic cancer.
The concomitant expression of oncogenic Kras(G12D) and mutant p53 (Trp53(R172H)) in the murine pancreas results in metastatic PDA that recapitulates the cognate features of human pancreatic cancer providing an excellent animal model to identify genes required for tumor progression.
Advances in the understanding of pancreas cancer biology have been made over the past decade, including the discovery of critical mutations in oncogenes (i.e., K-Ras) as well as the loss of tumor suppressor genes, such as TP53 and p16(INK4).