Critical role of NF-κB in pancreatic cancer

• Published in: Oncotarget Vol. 5; no. 22; pp. 10969 - 10975
• Main Authors: Prabhu, Lakshmi, Mundade, Rasika, Korc, Murray, Loehrer, Patrick J, Lu, Tao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Impact Journals LLC 30.11.2014
• Subjects: Animals; Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal - metabolism; Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal - pathology; Humans; NF-kappa B - metabolism; Review
• ISSN: 1949-2553; 1949-2553
• DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.2624

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the deadliest cancers, and in spite of intense efforts there are limited therapeutic options for patients with PDAC. PDACs harbor a high frequency of Kras mutations and other driver mutations that lead to altered signaling pathways and contribute to therapeutic resistance. Importantly, constitutive activation of nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) is frequently observed in PDAC. An increasing body of evidence suggests that both classical and non-classical NF-κB pathways play a crucial role in PDAC development and progression. In this review, we update the most recent advances regarding different aspects of NF-κB involvement in PDAC development and progression, emphasizing its potential as a therapeutic target and the need to discover pathway-specific cytosolic NF-κB regulators which could be used to design novel therapeutic strategies for PDAC.