Published online Jun 28, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i24.7819
Revised: December 11, 2013
Accepted: January 14, 2014
Published online: June 28, 2014
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) is known for its poor prognosis. Most of the patients are diagnosed with advanced stages, when no curative treatment is available. Currently, despite extensive clinical research on PDA, the median overall survival remains short. Diagnosis delay and primary chemo-resistance due to its intrinsic biological nature may explain the challenges to improve our results. Our knowledge about the molecular biology of PDA has exponentially increased during the last decades and its use for the development of biomarkers could help to reach better results in the clinical setting. These biomarkers could be the clue for the improvement in PDA clinical research by earlier detection strategies with diagnostic biomarkers, and by an individualization of treatment approach with prognostic and predictive biomarkers. This review summarizes the current knowledge about the molecular biology of PDA and the status of the most important prognostic and predictive biomarkers.
Core tip: Implementing the clinicopathological information with molecular characteristics for treatment individualization in pancreatic cancer seems to be one of the keys to improving survival and response to treatment. The development of new biomarkers and a better definition of the current ones are radically important. This review will summarize the most important biomarkers defined for pancreatic adenocarcinoma and their current development status.