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Insights into the origins of pancreatic cancer

The initial events that give rise to pancreatic cancer are not fully understood. Evidence from mice now implicates the enzyme Tert in setting the stage for the formation of this type of tumour.
  1. Laura D. Wood

    1. Laura D. Wood is in the Departments of Pathology and Oncology, Sol Goldman Pancreatic Cancer Research Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21231, USA.

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  2. Anirban Maitra

    1. Anirban Maitra is at the Sheikh Ahmed Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.

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The pancreas secretes enzymes that are required for the digestion of food in the intestine. Two main pancreatic cell types are involved in this — acinar cells, which secrete these enzymes, and ductal cells, which line channels to the intestine. The most common type of pancreatic cancer arises in a form that recapitulates such pancreatic ducts, both in its gland-like structure and in its pattern of protein expression. Yet, despite this similarity, substantial uncertainty remains regarding the cell type (cell of origin) that gives rise to pancreatic cancer.

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Nature 597, 641-642 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02435-4

References

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Competing Interests

A.M. receives royalties for a pancreatic cancer biomarker test from Cosmos Wisdom Biotechnology, and this financial relationship is managed and monitored by the UTMDACC Conflict of Interest Committee. A.M. also receives royalties as an inventor on a patent that has been licensed by Johns Hopkins University to Thrive Earlier Detection (an Exact Sciences Company). A.M. serves as a consultant for Freenome.

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