Malignant Lesions of the Pancreas

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Omer Basar ◽  
Abdurrahman Kadayifci ◽  
William R. Brugge

Malignant lesions of pancreas are the fourth most common cause of cancer death in men and women. The majority of pancreatic cancer results from malignant transformation of the exocrine pancreas, and nearly 90% are ductal adenocarcinomas (pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, PDAC). Patients typically present at an advanced stage with a poor prognosis. PDAC is acquired through the accumulation of multiple genetic mutations. The major risk factors for PDAC include age, smoking, chronic pancreatitis, diabetes mellitus (DM), male gender, and African American race. Less commonly, hereditary syndromes may be implicated. The clinical presentation may involve weight loss, abdominal discomfort, and or jaundice. Painless jaundice, depression, and new-onset DM can suggest the diagnosis. Cross-sectional imaging has utility in diagnosis and staging. Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) with fine needle aspiration (FNA) is a standard approach to tissue diagnosis. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreaticography with palliative stenting can relieve obstructive jaundice. Surgical resection is the only potentially curative option in the management of PDAC but only a minority of patients are candidates for resection. The prognosis for most patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma is poor. Less common pancreatic malignant lesions such as neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) have a much more favorable prognosis.   Key words: Pancreatic cancer; Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma; Pancreatic NETs (PNETs); Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 391-398
Author(s):  
Livia Petrusel ◽  
Maria Bilibou ◽  
Vasile Drug ◽  
Daniel Corneliu Leucuta ◽  
Radu Seicean ◽  
...  

Background and Aims: Pancreatic cancer is associated with poor survival and quality of life. In Romania the prognostic influence of known risk factors for pancreatic adenocarcinoma, such as age, smoking, chronic pancreatitis, diabetes mellitus, and obesity is little known. Their importance in developing cancer in families with a history of adenocarcinoma is less studied. This study aims to assess the risk factors in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, in familial pancreatic adenocarcinoma, in neuroendocrine tumors and to evaluate their predictive role on survival. Methods: We performed a prospective bicentric study of patients with pancreatic tumors detected in transabdominal imaging; we assessed the risk factors and their possible association with survival. Results: 312 pancreatic cancer patients (279 with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and 24 patients with neuroendocrine tumors, and nine patients with other malignant types) and 312 controls were included. The median body mass index was significantly higher in patients with neuroendocrine tumors. Positive family history for pancreatic cancer was found in 4% of patients with pancreatic cancer. The risk for familial pancreatic carcinoma was associated with the presence of new-onset diabetes (OR: 4.64, p=0.018). The multivariate logistic analysis suggested that advanced age (OR: 1.67), smoking (OR: 1.67), low body mass index (OR: 12.07), and diabetes (OR: 3.91) were risk factors for pancreatic cancer. The overall survival analysis after adjustment for age and tumor stage showed only advanced tumoral stage (HR=1.6, p=0.003) and metastasis as independent predicting factors (HR=1.67, p<0.001). Conclusion: Our study suggests that diabetes, smoking, underweight, and age over 60 years are risk factors for pancreatic cancer. Patients with a family history of pancreatic cancer, especially those with new-onset diabetes, should be followed carefully and considered for screening. Only an advanced tumor stage was associated with poor overall survival for patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 82-93
Author(s):  
Luca Digiacomo ◽  
Francesca Giulimondi ◽  
Daniela Pozzi ◽  
Alessandro Coppola ◽  
Vincenzo La Vaccara ◽  
...  

Due to late diagnosis, high incidence of metastasis, and poor survival rate, pancreatic cancer is one of the most leading cause of cancer-related death. Although manifold recent efforts have been done to achieve an early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, CA-19.9 is currently the unique biomarker that is adopted for the detection, despite its limits in terms of sensitivity and specificity. To identify potential protein biomarkers for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), we used three model liposomes as nanoplatforms that accumulate proteins from human plasma and studied the composition of this biomolecular layer, which is known as protein corona. Indeed, plasma proteins adsorb on nanoparticle surface according to their abundance and affinity to the employed nanomaterial, thus even small differences between healthy and PDAC protein expression levels can be, in principle, detected. By mass spectrometry experiments, we quantified such differences and identified possible biomarkers for PDAC. Some of them are already known to exhibit different expressions in PDAC proteomes, whereas the role of other relevant proteins is still not clear. Therefore, we predict that the employment of nanomaterials and their protein corona may represent a useful tool to amplify the detection sensitivity of cancer biomarkers, which may be used for the early diagnosis of PDAC, with clinical implication for the subsequent therapy in the context of personalized medicine.


2017 ◽  
Vol 313 (5) ◽  
pp. G524-G536 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandrina Maertin ◽  
Jason M. Elperin ◽  
Ethan Lotshaw ◽  
Matthias Sendler ◽  
Steven D. Speakman ◽  
...  

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) displays extensive and poorly vascularized desmoplastic stromal reaction, and therefore, pancreatic cancer (PaCa) cells are confronted with nutrient deprivation and hypoxia. Here, we investigate the roles of autophagy and metabolism in PaCa cell adaptation to environmental stresses, amino acid (AA) depletion, and hypoxia. It is known that in healthy cells, basal autophagy is at a low level, but it is greatly activated by environmental stresses. By contrast, we find that in PaCa cells, basal autophagic activity is relatively high, but AA depletion and hypoxia activate autophagy only weakly or not at all, due to their failure to inhibit mechanistic target of rapamycin. Basal, but not stress-induced, autophagy is necessary for PaCa cell proliferation, and AA supply is even more critical to maintain PaCa cell growth. To gain insight into the underlying mechanisms, we analyzed the effects of autophagy inhibition and AA depletion on PaCa cell metabolism. PaCa cells display mixed oxidative/glycolytic metabolism, with oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) predominant. Both autophagy inhibition and AA depletion dramatically decreased OXPHOS; furthermore, pharmacologic inhibitors of OXPHOS suppressed PaCa cell proliferation. The data indicate that the maintenance of OXPHOS is a key mechanism through which autophagy and AA supply support PaCa cell growth. We find that the expression of oncogenic activation mutation in GTPase Kras markedly promotes basal autophagy and stimulates OXPHOS through an autophagy-dependent mechanism. The results suggest that approaches aimed to suppress OXPHOS, particularly through limiting AA supply, could be beneficial in treating PDAC. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Cancer cells in the highly desmoplastic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma confront nutrient [i.e., amino acids (AA)] deprivation and hypoxia, but how pancreatic cancer (PaCa) cells adapt to these conditions is poorly understood. This study provides evidence that the maintenance of mitochondrial function, in particular, oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS), is a key mechanism that supports PaCa cell growth, both in normal conditions and under the environmental stresses. OXPHOS in PaCa cells critically depends on autophagy and AA supply. Furthermore, the oncogenic activation mutation in GTPase Kras upregulates OXPHOS through an autophagy-dependent mechanism.


2015 ◽  
Vol 148 (4) ◽  
pp. S-13
Author(s):  
Ujjwal M. Mahajan ◽  
Enno Langhoff ◽  
Eithne Costello ◽  
William Greenhalf ◽  
Christopher Halloran ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 118-121
Author(s):  
V. U. Rayn ◽  
◽  
M. A. Persidskiy ◽  
E. V. Malakhova ◽  
I. V. Anuchina ◽  
...  

Aim. To establish the association between pancreatic cancer precursor lesions and chronic opisthorchiasis. Materials and methods. A single center case-control study was conducted at a low-volume pancreatic surgery center in Khanty-Mansiysk. We retrospectively collected morphological data from 47 pancreatoduodenectomies performed for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. The study group included 23 cases of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma with concomitant chronic Opisthorchis felineus invasion which were compared to 24 controls consisting of “pure” cancer. Qualitative analysis was performed using χ2 Pearson criterion. Exact Fisher test was used for small samples. Time to progression and overall survival rates were calculated using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. Data were collected and analyzed in Statistica 7.0. Results. PanINs were seen in 41,7% pancreata resected for ductal adenocarcinoma of the head and in 95,7% cases of pancreatic cancer in background of chronic opisthorchiasis (р = 0,000; 95% CI 3,5-268). PanIN high grade were observed only in opisthorchiasis group. In mixed pathology invasive cancer component tended to be more dedifferentiated and advanced when compared to pure cancer group (p = 0,029). Median disease free survival was 9 mo. in both groups and overall survival was 13 mo. in non-opisthorchiasis group and 15,3 mo. in opisthorchiasis group (р = 0,437). Conclusion. Chronic opisthorchiasis is associated with pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma in background of opisthorchiasis with preneoplastic lesions tend to be more advanced in stage and poorly differentiated. Disease free and overall survival have no statistically significant differences in patients with and without Opisthorchis felineus invasion.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewelina Barcińska ◽  
Justyna Wierzbicka ◽  
Agata Zauszkiewicz-Pawlak ◽  
Dagmara Jacewicz ◽  
Aleksandra Dabrowska ◽  
...  

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is one of the most aggressive human malignancies, where the 5-year survival rate is less than 4% worldwide. Successful treatment of pancreatic cancer is a challenge for today’s oncology. Several studies showed that increased levels of oxidative stress may cause cancer cells damage and death. Therefore, we hypothesized that oxidative as well as nitro-oxidative stress is one of the mechanisms inducing pancreatic cancer programmed cell death. We decided to use silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) (2.6 and 18 nm) as a key factor triggering the reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cells (PANC-1). Previously, we have found that AgNPs induced PANC-1 cells death. Furthermore, it is known that AgNPs may induce an accumulation of ROS and alteration of antioxidant systems in different type of tumors, and they are indicated as promising agents for cancer therapy. Then, the aim of our study was to evaluate the implication of oxidative and nitro-oxidative stress in this cytotoxic effect of AgNPs against PANC-1 cells. We determined AgNP-induced increase of ROS level in PANC-1 cells and pancreatic noncancer cell (hTERT-HPNE) for comparison purposes. We found that the increase was lower in noncancer cells. Reduction of mitochondrial membrane potential and changes in the cell cycle were also observed. Additionally, we determined the increase in RNS level: nitric oxide (NO) and nitric dioxide (NO2) in PANC-1 cells, together with increase in family of nitric oxide synthases (iNOS, eNOS, and nNOS) at protein and mRNA level. Disturbance of antioxidant enzymes: superoxide dismutase (SOD1, SOD2, and SOD3), glutathione peroxidase (GPX-4) and catalase (CAT) were proved at protein and mRNA level. Moreover, we showed cells ultrastructural changes, characteristic for oxidative damage. Summarizing, oxidative and nitro-oxidative stress and mitochondrial disruption are implicated in AgNPs-mediated death in human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cells.


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