Ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreas: subtypes and molecular pathology

Abstract

Ductal adenocarcinoma is the most common tumor of the pancreas. Although relatively rare, it poses one of the greatest oncological challenges because of its poor prognosis, which has so far only slightly improved. Progress has been made in the more precise classification and standardization of the morphological assessment. In the current WHO classification, prognostically relevant subtypes are clearly delimited among themselves and from ductal adenocarcinoma not otherwise specified (NOS). In the recent TNM classification, asize-based T‑category was introduced. Diagnostically, the histological assessment of the resection specimen is relatively easy; on the other hand, assessment of the fine-needle biopsy from the primary tumor or aliver metastasis is still difficult. The molecular stratification of ductal adenocarcinoma and the other pancreatic neoplasms has made great progress. This not only defined the genetics of tumor entities, but also identified the prognosis and biology of tumor groups on the basis of RNA expression patterns. The range of treatment could be expanded by targeted molecular therapies (especially for patients with BRCA1/2 germline mutations, NTRK- or NRG1-fusions, or oncogenic BRAF and PIK3CA mutations as well as tumors with microsatellite instability (MSI)), even if targeted therapies are currently only available for aminority of patients (<10%).