Translational Genome Research Network in Pancreatic Cancer

Virtually every pancreatic cancer patient will die within the first year after diagnosis, making pancreatic cancer the 4th to 5th most common cause of cancer related deaths in the western world. Conventional means of diagnosis and treatment are unsatisfactory at present. The genome project has generated knowledge and technology with great potential to contribute to the understanding of the molecular pathogenesis in the pancreas and to provide molecular targets. However, even though multiple genome scale screening approaches of pancreatic tumors and their preneoplastic lesions have been conducted, only few targets have reached the level of preclinical or clinical applications. The fact that the tumor is hard to study in humans due to its particular anatomical and histopathological characteristics, the lack of well characterized clinical resources, and in particular the limited availability of valid in-vitro and mouse models of the disease have been rate limiting steps so far. The PaCaNet consortium is an Integrated Genome Research Network comprising groups who i) set the standards of clinical care and histopathology of pancreatic cancer and its precursor lesions, ii) have pioneered the use of high-throughput genome technology in pancreatic research, iii) have generated in-vitro and in-vivo models of the disease and iv) were among the first to transfer individual target genes or groups of target genes into preclinical and clinical applications. In the PaCaNet project, these German centers of excellence in pancreatic cancer research are now joined by genome research groups and partners from the pharmaceutical industry in an integrated approach for an efficient characterization and exploitation of genome project candidate genes for pancreatic cancer. The prime objective is to foster the rapid development and transfer of novel genome-based, molecular targeted therapeutic and diagnostic approaches from basic research, over preclinical testing into clinical applications.