Topic Highlight
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World J Gastroenterol. Aug 21, 2014; 20(31): 10825-10844
Published online Aug 21, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i31.10825
Novel therapeutic targets for pancreatic cancer
Shing-Chun Tang, Yang-Chao Chen
Shing-Chun Tang, Yang-Chao Chen, School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Yang-Chao Chen, Shenzhen Research Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Author contributions: Chen YC and Tang SC wrote the paper.
Correspondence to: Yang-Chao Chen, Professor, School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong, China. frankch@cuhk.edu.hk
Telephone: +852-39435728 Fax: +852-26035123
Received: October 28, 2013
Revised: February 13, 2014
Accepted: April 5, 2014
Published online: August 21, 2014
Core Tip

Core tip: Some of the targets discussed here have been discovered to enhance the effectiveness of gemcitabine upon co-administration of the corresponding agents, for instance, hyaluronidase can deplete hyaluronan in stromal region to enhance gemcitabine delivery. Besides, some signaling molecules, e.g., RalGEF-RAl, Rac1, and PAR2 are being targeted to suppress metastasis. Tumour proliferation is limited upon DR5 activated apoptosis and others promising therapeutic areas like epigenetic modifiers; IAP, miR, lncRNA, and cancer stem cells-tumour microenvironment will also be discussed.