Neoadjuvant therapy for pancreas cancer: Past lessons and future therapies

Table 3 Select clinically valuable pancreatic cancer biomarkers

Gene product	Target drug	Mechanism	Ref.
hENT1	Gemcitabine	Nucleoside inhibitor, prevents DNA synthesis in cancer cells	[59-64]
TS/DPD	5-FU/S-1	Suicide inhibitor of TS, prevents DNA synthesis in cancer cells	[65-71]
EGFR	Erlotinib	Tyrosine kinase inhibitor, prevents EGFR-mediated cell cycle progression and cellular proliferation	[72-79]
CA 19-9	N/A	N/A	[80-88]
SPARC	Nab-paclitaxel	Disruption of microtubule formation during mitosis	[12,89-94]
SMAD4	N/A	Tumor suppression, initiation, and metastasis	[95-99]

CA 19-9: Carbohydrate antigen 19-9; TS: Thymidylate synthase; hENT1: Human equilibrative nucleoside transporter-1; SPARC: Secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine; EGFR: Epidermal growth factor receptor.