Pancreatic cancer - four subtypes identified

A study recently published in the journal Nature, Genomic analyses identify molecular subtypes of pancreatic cancer, indicates that there are four different subtypes of pancreatic cancer. As one of the most aggressive and complex cancers, this detailed genetic study could have major implications on the way it is treated in the future.

If you find the Nature article overly-scientific, there is a useful summary of the findings in plain English published in The Conversation: Pancreatic cancer is really four separate cancers: study.  Author Ivy Shih interviewed one of the main researchers, Sean Grimmond, who is Director of Research for the Centre for Cancer Research at the University of Melbourne.  He said that the results may open new avenues for clinical trials and drug designs to better combat the disease.

Bailey, Peter et al.  Genomic analyses identify molecular subtypes of pancreatic cancer Nature 531, 47–52 (03 March 2016) doi:10.1038/nature16965.  (Request this article from your Librarian if you do not have access to the full text.)