[Towards the identification of new markers of pancreatic cancer by gene expression analysis].

The poor prognosis of pancreatic cancer has remained unchanged for many years, with a 5-year survival of less than 5 %. Current methods for diagnosing pancreatic cancer are inadequate at identifying small tumors that can be resected by surgery. Characterization of gene expression patterns in pancreatic cancer provided a list of genes that are specifically overexpressed in cancer cells. These genes are putative novel markers for the diagnosis and the prognosis of pancreatic cancer and for the development of targeted therapies. Gene expression analysis should lead to the discovery of molecular markers for early detection of pancreatic cancer that could benefit patients at high risk of developing pancreatic cancer.