Published online Apr 15, 2016. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v8.i4.358
Peer-review started: July 29, 2015
First decision: November 3, 2015
Revised: December 5, 2015
Accepted: January 8, 2016
Article in press: January 11, 2016
Published online: April 15, 2016
Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers with a very poor prognosis. Recently, there has been a significant increase in research directed towards identifying potential biomarkers that can be used to diagnose and provide prognostic information for pancreatic cancer. These markers can be used clinically to optimize and personalize therapy for individual patients. In this review, we focused on 3 biomarkers involved in the DNA damage response pathway and the necroptosis pathway: Chromodomain-helicase-DNA binding protein 5, chromodomain-helicase-DNA binding protein 7, and mixed lineage kinase domain-like protein. The aim of this article is to review present literature provided for these biomarkers and current studies in which their effectiveness as prognostic biomarkers are analyzed in order to determine their future use as biomarkers in clinical medicine. Based on the data presented, these biomarkers warrant further investigation, and should be validated in future studies.
Core tip: Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers with a very poor prognosis. Recently, there has been a significant increase in studies and research directed towards identifying potential biomarkers that can be used to diagnose and provide prognostic information for pancreatic cancer. We focused on 3 biomarkers involved in the DNA damage response pathway and the necroptosis pathway: Chromodomain-helicase-DNA binding protein 5, chromodomain-helicase-DNA binding protein 7, and mixed lineage kinase domain-like protein. Based on the data presented, these biomarkers warrant further investigation.