Recent advances in pancreatic cancer: updates and insights from the 2015 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Abstract

Pancreatic cancer remains the tenth most common cancer diagnosis in the United States with approximately 48,960 new cases diagnosed in 2015 [American Cancer Society, 2015; SEER, 2015]. Unfortunately, pancreatic cancer remains a deadly diagnosis and is responsible for the fourth largest number of cancer-related deaths. With an estimated 40,560 deaths in 2015 it is second only to lung, prostate, and colorectal cancers. Unfortunately, most of patients with pancreatic cancer present with advanced disease and half of patients have distant metastatic disease at initial presentation [SEER, 2015]. Overall survival (OS) remains poor; only 7.2% of patients survive to 5 years following diagnosis. Unfortunately, the possibility of cure is limited unless the disease is detected early and completely resected. Recent studies have shown a benefit of a few chemotherapeutic regimens in the metastatic setting and investigators are currently exploring their role in earlier stages of pancreatic cancer. However, there remains a strong need for the development of novel agents, identification of biomarkers and improvement in the toxicity profile of current regimens.