title: Biological factors and therapeutic modulation in pancreatic carcinoma radiotherapy.
abstract: The prognosis of pancreatic carcinoma is dismal. Its main reason can be attributed to the difficult early diagnosis. In fact, at diagnosis most patients show advanced disease. In recent years, studies on the biomolecular characteristics of this disease have been conducted. The obtained results have favored the understanding of the basic mechanisms of the biologic aggressiveness and the resistance to chemoradiation of pancreatic carcinoma. They include the frequent oncogene activation as well as the similarly frequent suppressor gene inhibition. Based on this new knowledge, novel therapeutic strategies have been identified and treatments of targeting the ras oncoprotein or mutated p53, metalloproteinase inhibitors and tyrosine kinase receptor inhibitors (trastuzumab and cetuximab) together with antiangiogenic therapies are under experimentation.
authors.affiliation: Cattedra di Radioterapia, Istituto di Radiologia, Università Cattolica del S. Cuore, Policlinico A. Gemelli, Largo A. Gemelli 8, 00168 Roma, Italy. ncellini@rm.unicatt.it
authors.forename: Numa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cellini
authors.forename: Alessio G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Morganti
authors.forename: Gabriella
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Macchia
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Smaniotto
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Luzi
authors.forename: Gian Carlo
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Mattiucci
authors.forename: Franca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Forni
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Valentini
mesh_terms: D001685:Biological Factors; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D006801:Humans; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*
chemical_list: D001685:Biological Factors