PURPOSE Cancer associated stromal fibroblasts (CAFs) undergo transcriptional and phenotypic changes that contribute to tumor progression, but the mechanisms responsible for these changes are not well understood. Aberrant DNA methylation is an important cause of transcriptional alterations in cancer cells but it is not known how important DNA methylation alterations are to CAF behavior. EXPERI...

BACKGROUND In the near future advances in the molecular basis of cancer are expected to facilitate cancer diagnosis, to rationalize treatment, to facilitate screening, and to identify individuals requiring cancer prevention strategies. METHODS The literature was reviewed concerning the genetic alterations that contribute to pancreatic cancer development. RESULTS Virtually all pancreatic can...

BACKGROUND Dying cells after irradiation could promote the repopulation of surviving cancer cells leading to tumor recurrence. We aim to define the role of dying cells in promoting pancreatic cancer cells metastasis following radiotherapy. METHODS Using the transwell system as the in vitro co-culture model, a small number of untreated pancreatic cancer cells were seeded in the upper chamber, ...

PURPOSE Pancreatic cancer is the fourth cause of death from cancer in the western world. Majority of patients present with advanced unresectable disease responding poorly to most chemotherapeutic agents. Chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer might be improved by adjusting it to individual genetic profiles. We attempt to identify genetic predictors of chemosensitivity to broad classes of anticancer...

Myofibroblasts in the stroma of pancreatic cancers promote tumor proliferation, invasion and metastasis by increasing extracellular matrix and secretion of several growth factors. In contrast, the role of myofibroblasts at peritoneally disseminated sites of pancreatic cancer has not yet been determined. This study was designed to assess the role of myofibroblasts at peritoneally disseminated si...

Objective: Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is a deadly disease with an overall 5-year patient survival of less than 5%. This dismal prognosis of pancreatic cancer is largely due to the advanced stage of the disease at presentation. If pancreatic cancer could be diagnosed more readily and accurately using serum markers, patient survival could theoretically be improved by enabling more patients to avai...

PURPOSE To study the expression and function of a novel cell-cycle regulatory protein, human ecdysoneless (Ecd), during pancreatic cancer pathogenesis. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Immunohistochemical expression profiling of Ecd was done in nonneoplastic normal pancreatic tissues and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma lesions (from tissue microarray and Rapid Autopsy program) as well as precancerous Pan...

Introduction: Pancreatic Cancer (PC), while relatively infrequent, remains one of the deadliest cancers as a result late diagnosis and absence preventive measures. Over 50 % patients diagnosed with PC already suffer metastasis. Combined lack effective treatment, need arises for universal biomarkers specific to PC. In last decades importance human microbiota in its upholding body homeostasis has...

Radiotherapy represents a major treatment option for patients with pancreatic cancer, but recent evidence suggests that radiation can promote invasion and metastasis of cancer cells. Interactions between cancer cells and surrounding stromal cells may play an important role in aggressive tumor progression. In the present study, we investigated the invasive phenotype of pancreatic cancer cells in...

the cancers in the digestive system including gastric cancer, colorectal cancer, liver cancer, esophageal cancer and pancreatic cancer are one of the most common cancers in asia. the burden of these gastrointestinal cancers are increasing in asian countries and there are many people in the developing countries inside the asia who have no health insurance and many of them are too poor to go for ...