A common mutation in the KRAS gene is associated with improved overall survival in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) compared with other variants, in part because the mutation appears to lead to less invasiveness and weaker biological activity, according to a multicenter study conducted at Weill Cornell Medicine, NewYork-Presbyterian, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and other institutions. The research published August 29 in Cancer Cell , demonstrates that KRAS mutations, which occur in about 95 percent of people who have PDAC, can vary, with KRAS-G12R, KRAS-G12D, and KRAS-G12V being the most common alleles, and may provide doctors with valuable information about patient prognosis. We found that there are significant differences among these mutations.
We suggest that clinical guidelines should be revised to recommend routine molecular testing in all patients with pancreatic cancer." Dr. Rohit Chandwani, Study Senior Author and Assistant Professor, Departments of Surgery and Cell and Developmental Biology, Weill Cornell Medicine Current National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines recommend molecular profiling for patients with later-stage, locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer, but not for early-stage patients that have cancer confined to the pancreas.
Understanding how mutations affect the behavior of pancreatic tumors could potentially help guide treatment, said Dr. Chandwani, who is also a surgical oncologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Corne.
