Role of the tumor microenvironment in pancreatic adenocarcinoma

Pancreatic cancer is a devastating disease with proclivity for early metastasis, which accounts for its poor prognosis. The clinical problem of pancreatic cancer is its resistance to conventional therapies, such as chemotherapy or radiation. Based upon these challenges, the focus of research on pancreatic cancer has shifted gradually towards the tumor microenvironment. The cancer microenvironment consists of various components, including fibroblasts, endothelial cells, immune cells, and endocrine cells, that interact with each other, and with the cancer cells in a complex fashion. Evidence is accumulating that the cancer microenvironment plays an active role in disease progression, and efforts are being made to target this interplay between cancer cells and host cells, to improve the prognosis of the disease. In the present review, we describe the cellular microenvironment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA), the major type of pancreatic cancer. Our hope is that a better understanding of the cellular microenvironment of PDA will eventually lead to better treatments for this disease.