Xie Keping, Wang Bailiang, Shi Qian, Abbruzzese James, Xiong Qinghua, Le Xiangdong
Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, Box 426, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Boulevard, Houston, TX 77030.
Int J Gastrointest Cancer. 2001;29(1):25-36.
Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is a deadly disease. Its etiology is unknown, and metastatic disease kills themajority of patients who have it. Effective prevention is clearly the ultimate goal for eradicating this diseaseprovided that the effects of environmental and genetic elements on pancreatic cancer development arefully understood. Currently, it appears that the control of pancreatic cancer metastasis is of immediateurgency. Fulfillment of this difficult task relies on knowledge of the cellular and molecular biology of metastasis.The use of relevant animal models will help define each aspect of this complicated process.