[The importance of angiogenesis in pancreatic cancer]

Pancreatic cancer is the sixth cause of mortality for malignant tumors in Europe and fourth in the USA. It is one of the most deadly cancers. Mean 5-year survival does not exceed 5% and after resection--20%. There is urgent need to develop more efficient methods of treatment of pancreatic cancer. One of the new directions of research is inhibition of angiogenesis. In this paper we present a review of current publications on angiogenesis in pancreatic cancer. The results of studies performed so far and prospects of use of new antiangiogenic drugs are analyzed. In view of lack of angiogenesis inhibitors approved for treatment of pancreatic cancer, drugs efficient against other tumors are presented. We discuss the difficulties of planning new studies on pancreatic cancer, suggesting the possibilities to minimize the risk of tumor resistance against used therapy.