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Detection of K-ras Point Mutation at Codon 12 in Pancreatic Diseases: A Study in a Brazilian Casuistic

Márcia Saldanha Kubrusly, José Eduardo Monteiro Cunha, Telésforo Bacchella, Emilio Elias Abdo, José Jukemura, Sonia Penteado, Cíntia Yoko Morioka, Lourenilson José de Souza, Marcel Cerqueira Cesar Mac
10/16/2014

Despite considerable development in sophisticated imaging techniques and cytological examination, an early diagnosis of pancreatic neoplasm is rare. Hence, the rate of cure of this disease is less than 10%. Furthermore, surgical therapy for pancreatic cancer is frequently not curative, most often as a consequence of this tumor’s propensity to metastasize. Only in a minority of cases is the diagnosis made at a very early stage, when curative surgery might significantly ameliorate the 5-year survival rate [1, 2, 3]. Therefore, a better understanding of the molecular basis of transformation into malignant tumor may contribute to the establishment of new criteria for diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of human neoplasms. Genetic mutations are associated with many types of tumors. In general, these changes involve genes, called protooncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, engaged in the control of cellular growth and differentiation.