Pancreatic Cancer: Review of Etiology, Clinical Features, Diagnostic Procedures, Treatment and Mesothelin Role

Abstract

Pancreatic cancer is one with high mortality cancer in the world. Ninety percent of pancreatic cancer is pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Various factors is associated with an increased risk of pancreatic cancer including age, sex, race, genetic, history of chronic pancreatitis, diabetes mellitus, gallstone, obesity, Helicobacter pylori infection, smoking, diet, and polution exposure. A lot of cases were diagnosed in late stadium due to non-specific early clinical symptoms, and also, until now, there is no examination tool that may screen pancreatic cancer in the earliest stage. Total surgery resection is the therapy of choice in the early stadium of pancreatic cancer, and other therapy modalities are chemotherapy, radiotherapy. Combination of these modalities is frequently used in order to increase the effectiveness of therapy. Mesothelin, a surface glycoprotein on normal mesothelial cells, is overexpressed in pancreatic cancer; therefore, although it is not a cancer specific antigen, it can be used in diagnostic and treatment of pancreatic cancer. Several studies about mesothelin application in pancreatic cancer have been performed; however, more studies are needed to improve the application of mesothelin on pancreatic cancer.
Keywords: pancreatic cancer, risk factor, therapy, mesothelin