VAV1: a new target in pancreatic cancer?

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) is arguably the most lethal malignancy in the United States. Despite the identification of many molecular alterations in PDA, this information has not translated into effective therapeutic strategies to date. A recent report in Cancer Cell (Fernandez-Zapico et al, Cancer Cell 2005, 7:39-49) reveals an unexpected role for the hematopoietic-specific RhoGEF VAV1 in pancreatic tumorigenesis, where ectopic expression of VAV1 as a result of promoter demethylation was identified in the majority of established cell lines and PDA tissue samples.

Twist induces an epithelial-mesenchymal transition to facilitate tumor metastasis.

Tumor metastasis-the spreading of primary tumor cells to distal organs - is the major cause of death of cancer patients. The metastatic process consists of four distinct steps, invasion, intravasation, extravasation, and metastatic growth, and primary tumor cells need to acquire different genetic characteristics to accomplish each step. The main players during the metastatic process remain, however, largely unknown.