Newer Trends in Pancreatic Cancer Treatment: Genetic Alterations and the Role of Immune Therapeutic and Targeted Therapies.

ABSTRACT

Pancreatic cancer prognosis has remained poor and no significant improvement has been achieved over the past two decades. A number of genetic alterations are found in pancreatic cancer with a complex genome and proteome that needs further research investigation and discovery. There is an urgent need for innovative research findings that would increase the 5-year survival rate in patients with pancreatic ductal carcinoma, which in fact has seen only small increments over the past two decades. Targeting the tumor and modifying the stroma could help improve therapy responses. Genomic medicine is useful in a fraction of patients currently; however, the newer proteomic approaches are potentially more likely to help the majority of patients in the future. Future treatments of pancreatic cancer will likely be based on the development of novel therapies per genomic and proteomic identifications of cellular/immunological processes and molecular pathways as therapeutic targets. Herein, we systematically review the newer trends in pancreatic cancer treatment with emphasis on the genetic alterations and role of immune therapeutics and targeted therapies.