[Molecular diagnosis of pancreatic cancer]

Genetic alterations such as K-ras mutation, inactivation of the p53, p16 and DPC4 genes and frequent chromosomal loss of the 17p, 9p, 18q and 1p are thought to play a crucial role in the carcinogenesis of pancreatic cancer. Mutations of K-ras oncogene could be detected frequently in pancreatic juice samples from patients with pancreatic carcinoma and intraductal papillary neoplasm (IPN), although they could be detected in some of the samples from patients with chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cyst. This suggests that K-ras mutation is an early event in the carcinogenesis of the exocine pancreas. In IPN, analysis of other genetic alteration would be available, since pancreatic juice samples from the patient are relatively rich in the proportion of the tumor cells. A new diagnostic modality of sensitive allelotyping would be useful for evaluating malignant potential of these borderline lesions.