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Translational advances in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma therapy

Nature Cancer volume 3, pages 272–286 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is an aggressive cancer that is most frequently detected at advanced stages, limiting treatment options to systemic chemotherapy with modest clinical responses. Here, we review recent advances in targeted therapy and immunotherapy for treating subtypes of PDAC with diverse molecular alterations. We focus on the current preclinical and clinical evidence supporting the potential of these approaches and the promise of combinatorial regimens to improve the lives of patients with PDAC.

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Fig. 1: Evolving therapeutic landscape of KRAS in PDAC.
Fig. 2: Translational immunotherapeutic approaches to PDAC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Hematology & Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA

    Abdel Nasser Hosein

  2. Department of Translational Molecular Pathology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA

    Abdel Nasser Hosein & Anirban Maitra

  3. Sheikh Ahmed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA

    Abdel Nasser Hosein & Anirban Maitra

  4. Advocate Aurora Health, Vince Lombardi Cancer Clinic, Sheboygan, WI, USA

    Abdel Nasser Hosein

  5. Department of Cancer Immunology and Virology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA

    Stephanie K. Dougan

  6. Department of Immunology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Stephanie K. Dougan

  7. Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA

    Andrew J. Aguirre

  8. Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Andrew J. Aguirre

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Correspondence to Abdel Nasser Hosein, Stephanie K. Dougan, Andrew J. Aguirre or Anirban Maitra.

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Competing interests

A.N.H. has no disclosures. S.K.D. receives grant funding from Novartis, BMS, Genocea and Eli Lilly and is a cofounder and SAB member of Kojin Therapeutics. A.J.A. has consulted for Oncorus, Inc., Arrakis Therapeutics, Syros Pharmaceuticals, Boehringer Ingelheim, T-knife Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, Mirati Therapeutics and Merck & Co., Inc., and has research funding from Mirati Therapeutics, Syros Pharmaceuticals, Revolution Medicines, Novartis, Bristol Myers Squibb, Deerfield, Inc., and Novo Ventures that is unrelated to this work. A.M. receives royalties for a pancreatic cancer biomarker test from Cosmos Wisdom Biotechnology, is listed as an inventor on a patent that has been licensed by Johns Hopkins University to ThriveEarlier Detection and serves as a consultant for Freenome and Tezcat Biotechnology.

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Hosein, A.N., Dougan, S.K., Aguirre, A.J. et al. Translational advances in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma therapy. Nat Cancer 3, 272–286 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43018-022-00349-2

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