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World J Gastroenterol. Sep 14, 2014; 20(34): 12062-12081
Published online Sep 14, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i34.12062
Nuclear receptors and pathogenesis of pancreatic cancer
Simone Polvani, Mirko Tarocchi, Sara Tempesti, Andrea Galli
Simone Polvani, Mirko Tarocchi, Sara Tempesti, Andrea Galli, Department of Experimental and Clinical Biomedical Sciences, University of Florence, 50134 Florence, Italy
Author contributions: Polvani S made the literature review and wrote the manuscript; Tempesti S and Tarocchi M critically revised the manuscript; Galli A supervised the manuscript; all authors approved the final version of the manuscript.
Supported by Fondo per gli Investimenti della Ricerca di Base (FIRB) (RBAP10MY35_002), by Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze and by FiorGen ONLUS to Galli A
Correspondence to: Andrea Galli, Professor, Department of Experimental and Clinical Biomedical Sciences, University of Florence, Viale Pieraccini 6, 50134 Florence, Italy. a.galli@dfc.unifi.it
Telephone: +39-55-4271419 Fax: +39-55-4271297
Received: November 15, 2013
Revised: January 30, 2014
Accepted: April 2, 2014
Published online: September 14, 2014
Core Tip

Core tip: Pancreatic cancer is a devastating disease with well defined genetic alterations made deadly by its subtle nature and the lack of effective drugs. Nuclear receptors (NR) are ligand-regulated transcription factors involved in important cellular functions and tempting targets for drug development. There are now evidences that classical ligand-activated peroxisome proliferator activated receptors, retinoic acid receptors, retinoid X receptors, androgen receptor, estrogen receptors and orphan Nur, chicken ovalbumin upstream promoter transcription factor II and liver receptor homologue-1 NR are involved in the pathogenesis of pancreatic cancer. No clinical application of these NR in pancreatic cancer cure is reported but a more comprehensive analysis of NR action could lead to the identification of new treatments for this disease.