VISION Invited lecture - Molecular and Cellular mechanisms/biomarkers in PDAC

Recording and presentation of the invited lecture that took place online on 11 November 2020 - Dr Laura Garcia Bermejo - Molecular and Cellular mechanisms/biomarkers in PDAC.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is a fatal disease that presents metastases at diagnosis in most of the cases leading to cancer-associated death. Mutations in drivers’ genes including KRas, CDKN2, Tp53 and SMAD4 and DNA repair genes have been already linked to pancreas cancer development. Pancreatic cancer cells possess properties of plasticity highlighting the epithelial mesenchymal transition and pluripotency genes as critical mediators in pancreas cancer development and progression. Both, EMT and plasticity could be responsible of the limited efficacy of current treatments. Additionally, microRNAs (miRNAs) small non-coding RNAs that regulate the expression of multiple messengers in the post-translation process emerge as promising biomarkers for prognosis, patient stratification and response to advanced pancreatic therapies. Profiling of deregulated miRNAs in pancreatic cancer can contribute to accurate diagnosis and molecular subtype characterization as well as indicate optimal treatment and predict response to therapy. Furthermore, understanding the main effector genes upon miRNAs regulation can also identify miRNAs as potential therapeutic candidates. However, obstacles to the translation of miRNAs into the clinical practice should be also considered, therefore validation of the profiles and the specific role of miRNAs in pancreas cancer development and progression are required for real clinical application.