PanINs

Pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasias (PanINs) are the precursor lesions for pancreatic adenocarcinomas, the exocrine form of pancreatic cancer. There are multiple types of PanINs, each building up to pancreatic adenocarcinomas. The lowest grade, called PanIN-1, frequently has mutations in the KRAS oncogene. In PanIN-2s, p16/CDKN2A gene mutations start to appear. PanIN-3s, the highest grade of these precursor lesions, accumulate SMAD4 and TP53 mutations. At times, these SMAD4 and TP53 mutations don't appear until the adenocarcinoma has already become invasive. The researchers plan to examine all of these mutations and come up with novel targeted therapies for each stage of PanIN in an effort to halt the progression of pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Once past the PanIN stage, surgery remains the only form of treatment that has a slightly longer survival rate.