Genetically-engineered mouse models for pancreatic cancer: Advances and current limitations

Figure 5 Tumor-stromal interaction as a therapeutic target of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. In pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) tissue, PDAC cells and stromal cells are interacting with each other by certain factors including chemokines, which might have tumor-promoting effects. The tumor microenvironment contains, for example, fibroblasts, macrophages, neutrophils and vascular endothelial cells. The combination of conventional chemo reagents (e.g. gemcitabine) and the inhibition of the tumor-stromal interaction might be a more effective therapeutic strategy for PDAC.