When developmental signaling pathways go wrong and their impact on pancreatic cancer development.
OBJECTIVE
To describe recent studies of developmental signal pathways and their relation to the development of pancreatic cancer.


RESULTS
Pancreatic development and its relation to pancreatic cancer remain one of the most provocative areas in the field of pancreatology. Interestingly, for a long time, investigators in this field of research worked diligently in describing pathways that were shared by both processes, hoping that the day would come when their efforts would be translated into the development of diagnostic modalities and new treatments. Fortunately, during the past 2 years, we have witnessed the development of small molecules that specifically target distinct pathways, thus providing the proof of principle that the hope of many scientists in the field of pancreatic cancer was justified.


CONCLUSIONS
This conceptual validation of previous experiments has fuelled new studies, the results of which will be the focus of this review.
Lomberk
Gwen
G
Gastroenterology Research Unit, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota 55905, USA.
Fernandez-Zapico
Martin E
ME
Urrutia
Raul
R
D006801:Humans; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism*; D051880:Receptors, Notch / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*
D051880:Receptors, Notch