An evidence-based approach to the management of pancreatic cancer

n 2001, a number of prominent pancreas cancer specialists from the medical community met with industry and pancreatic cancer advocacy partners to make comprehensive formal recommendations for the National Cancer Institute's pancreatic cancer research agenda. They published an executive summary identifying barriers to progress and highlighted research priorities that could lead to real progress for this cancer. As we approach the end of 2004, much has changed, yet much has remained the same for the management of pancreatic cancer. We now have an understanding of how normal duct epithelium progresses to infiltrating cancer at the molecular level. We finally have available reliable mouse models of early pancreatic ductal lesions3 that will provide unprecedented potential to identify early pancreatic lesions and allow testing of new drugs for prevention and treatment. The technology for pancreatic tumor animal xenografting exists that will allow more efficient testing of new drugs and identifying mechanisms of drug resistance.