Pancreatic cancer: pathogenesis, prevention and treatment.

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States with a very low survival rate of 5 years. To better design new preventive and/or therapeutic strategies for the fight against pancreatic cancer, the knowledge of the pathogenesis of pancreatic cancer at the molecular level is very important. It has been known that the development and the progression of pancreatic cancer are caused by the activation of oncogenes, the inactivation of tumor suppressor genes, and the deregulation of many signaling pathways among which the EGFR, Akt, and NF-kappaB pathways appear to be most relevant. Therefore, the strategies targeting EGFR, Akt, NF-kappaB, and their downstream signaling could be promising for the prevention and/or treatment of pancreatic cancer. In this brief review, we will summarize the current knowledge regarding the pathogenesis, prevention, and treatment of pancreatic cancer.