title: Epigenetic markers for chemosensitivity and chemoresistance in pancreatic cancer--a review.
abstract: Adjuvant first-line gemcitabine monochemotherapy presents a standard treatment for patients with advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma and improves overall survival in chemosensitive patients. Nonetheless, 6-month progression-free survival remains below 15%, despite interdisciplinary approaches. The success of gemcitabine treatment is disappointing and-in the absence of reliable tumor markers--challenging to quantify. Epigenetic alterations have been recently identified to take on important roles in cancer development and possibly cancer treatment. In this context, microRNAs are becoming increasingly acknowledged as useful biomarkers for classifying cancers and providing information on their chemo- and radiosensitivity. This review illustrates the potential of genetic and epigenetic markers in the prediction of chemosensitivity in pancreatic cancer patients and in the monitoring of their response rates to adjuvant therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of General and Visceral Surgery, University Hospital of Muenster, Muenster, Germany. sameer.dhayat@ukmuenster.de
authors.forename: Sameer
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dhayat
authors.forename: Wolf Arif
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Mardin
authors.forename: Soeren Torge
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Mees
authors.forename: Joerg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Haier
mesh_terms: D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000235:genetics*; D019008:Drug Resistance, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor