Genetic Basis of Pancreas Cancer Development and Progression: Insights from Whole-Exome and Whole-Genome Sequencing

Pancreatic cancer is caused by inherited and acquired mutations in specific cancer-associated genes. The discovery of the most common genetic alterations in pancreatic cancer has provided insight into the fundamental pathways that drive the progression from a normal cell to noninvasive precursor lesions and finally to widely metastatic disease. In addition, recent genetic discoveries have created new opportunities to develop gene-based approaches for early detection, personalized treatment, and molecular classification of pancreatic neoplasms. Clin Cancer Res; 18(16); 4257-65. (C) 2012 AACR.