Pancreatic Cancer: Current and Emerging Treatment Options

A special issue of Journal of Clinical Medicine (ISSN 2077-0383). This special issue belongs to the section "Gastroenterology & Hepatopancreatobiliary Medicine".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2025 | Viewed by 1815

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Medical Oncology Unit, University Hospital, University of Cagliari, 09042 Cagliari, Italy
Interests: pancreatic cancer; gastrointestinal cancer; clinical trials; predictive biomarkers; translational research; precision medicine
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Medical Oncology Unit, Department of Human Pathology “G. Barresi”, University of Messina, 98125 Messina, Italy
Interests: pancreatic cancer; gastrointestinal cancer; clinical trials; predictive biomarkers; translational research; precision medicine
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Medical Oncology Unit, University Hospital, University of Cagliari, 09042 Cagliari, Italy
Interests: pancreatic cancer; gastrointestinal cancer; clinical trials; predictive biomarkers; translational research; precision medicine
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the current and emerging treatment options for pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer remains one of the most challenging malignancies, with limited treatment success and poor prognosis. Therefore, it is crucial to explore novel therapeutic approaches and advancements in the field.

This Special Issue welcomes the submission of original research articles, reviews, and clinical studies that focus on various aspects of pancreatic cancer treatment. We encourage submissions that highlight innovative strategies, novel drug developments, targeted therapies, immunotherapies, and precision medicine approaches.

To ensure the highest quality and relevance of the published articles, this Special Issue will not accept mini-reviews or case reports. Instead, we aim to present in-depth research findings, evidence-based analyses, and critical evaluations of therapeutic interventions for pancreatic cancer.

We invite researchers, clinicians, and experts in the field to contribute their valuable insights and share their latest findings. By bringing together a diverse range of perspectives, we hope to foster collaboration, stimulate further research, and ultimately improve the outcomes for patients with pancreatic cancer.

Dr. Eleonora Lai
Prof. Dr. Nicola Silvestris
Prof. Dr. Mario Scartozzi
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • pancreatic cancer
  • treatment options
  • emerging therapies
  • precision medicine
  • immunotherapy
  • targeted therapy

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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15 pages, 555 KiB  
Review
Current and Emerging Treatment Options for Pancreatic Cancer: A Comprehensive Review
by Umar Hayat, Phillip S. Croce, Aseel Saadeh, Karna Desai, John Appiah, Sidrah Khan, Yakub I. Khan, Kishore Kumar and Ahmad Hanif
J. Clin. Med. 2025, 14(4), 1129; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm14041129 - 10 Feb 2025
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Abstract
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, and its global burden has increased significantly over the past few years. The incidence of pancreatic cancer has also increased in the United States, and most of this increase is [...] Read more.
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, and its global burden has increased significantly over the past few years. The incidence of pancreatic cancer has also increased in the United States, and most of this increase is attributed to the population’s aging process in addition to the rise in the prevalence of risk factors such as obesity, diabetes, smoking, and alcohol intake. Most patients with pancreatic cancer present with advanced unresectable or metastatic disease. Only a few patients present at an early stage with localized disease, and a multidisciplinary approach is required to maximize survival and outcomes. The surgical approach is an option for localized disease, and surgery’s safety and efficacy have also been improved in recent years due to the increasing use of minimally invasive surgical techniques. Moreover, systematic chemotherapy has also been used and has had a significant impact on survival. More recently, neoadjuvant therapy has been used for pancreatic cancer along with radiation therapy, optimizing survival among those patients. Targeted therapies have been introduced based on genetic testing in metastatic pancreatic cancer and have shown promising results. Moreover, immune checkpoint inhibitors and targeted agents such as PARP inhibitors and vaccines have emerged with optimal results in terms of survival. To conclude, pancreatic cancer is considered a disease with poor long-term survival; however, recent developments in pharmacotherapy have changed its treatment and have improved outcomes with improved survival. Our review summarizes ongoing therapeutic options for local and metastatic pancreatic cancer. It also summarizes new state-of-the-art therapies that have emerged or are in trials, which can change the pancreatic cancer treatment perspective. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pancreatic Cancer: Current and Emerging Treatment Options)
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9 pages, 1061 KiB  
Brief Report
Glypican-3 and Cytokeratin-19 Expression in Pancreatic Cancer in a Canadian Population
by Carley Bekkers, Ravi Ramjeesingh and Thomas Arnason
J. Clin. Med. 2024, 13(22), 6893; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm13226893 - 16 Nov 2024
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Abstract
Background/Objectives: One study of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma has found expression of glypican-3 (GPC3) and cytokeratin-19 (CK19) determined by immunohistochemistry to be associated with higher stage and grade disease, with a more adverse prognosis. The reported 44% rate of GPC3 expression in pancreatic cancer [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: One study of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma has found expression of glypican-3 (GPC3) and cytokeratin-19 (CK19) determined by immunohistochemistry to be associated with higher stage and grade disease, with a more adverse prognosis. The reported 44% rate of GPC3 expression in pancreatic cancer raises the important possibility that targeted immunotherapies currently in development for hepatocellular carcinoma may also prove useful for GPC3-expressing pancreatic cancers. The present study aims to determine if a similar expression pattern of these markers and stage/grade/prognostic associations is present in our Canadian patient population. Methods: Patients with a pancreatic surgical resection for adenocarcinoma or neuroendocrine tumor (NET) were identified from pathology records over a 5-year period. Immunohistochemistry for GPC3 and CK19 was performed on archived tumor tissue and the proportion of positive cells and intensity of staining were recorded. Grade, stage, and overall survival were compared in patients with NETs that were CK19-positive versus -negative. Results: All 72 pancreatic adenocarcinomas and 20 NETs tested were negative for GPC3, apart from a single case of pancreatic adenocarcinoma. All 72 adenocarcinomas were positive for CK19 expression. Half of the NETs were positive for CK19. There was no correlation between CK19 expression in NETs and tumor grade, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, or overall survival. Conclusions: We are skeptical of the reported prognostic value of GPC3 and CK19 in pancreatic adenocarcinomas. CK19 as a prognostic marker in NETs has potential for further study. The results with our protocol for GPC3 immunohistochemistry suggest that pancreatic cancer may be a less promising target for GPC3-targeted immunotherapies than previously thought. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pancreatic Cancer: Current and Emerging Treatment Options)
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