Gene expression analysis for predicting gemcitabine sensitivity in pancreatic cancer patients

Authors:
Publisher website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Treatment of carcinoma of the exocrine pancreas is a major problem, with approximately 80% of patients presenting with unresectable disease due to metastases and/or local invasion [ 1 x [1] Cancer: principles and practice of oncology. in: V.T. DeVita, S. Hellman, S.A. Rosenberg (Eds.) 6th edn. Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, Philadelphia, PA; 2001: 1126–1161 Google Scholar See all References ] [1] . Despite many advances in solid tumor therapies over recent decades, unresectable pancreatic cancer continues to have a median survival time of only 3–6 months. The development of gemcitabine, a deoxycytidine analog related to cytarabine, has prompted renewed interest in developing cytotoxic therapies for pancreatic cancer. Although gemcitabine is a well-tolerated drug and ideal for palliation of symptomatic cancer, the efficacy rates remain at only 20–30%. However, in some cases tumors respond well to this treatment and patients experience long survival times.

This publication has 19 references indexed in Scilit: