Issues

Pancreatic cancer is extremely lethal, partially due to the aggressive nature of the disease and the lack of reliable markers for early detection. Mucin 13 (MUC13) was found to be overexpressed in pancreatic cancer tissue samples. In in vitro studies, the expression of MUC13 increased the oncogenic characteristics of pancreatic cancer cells, including increased cell proliferation, invasion, and modulation of tumorigenic signaling pathways. Exogenous MUC13 expression also increased tumorigenesis in a mouse model of pancreatic cancer. For details, see article by Chauhan and colleagues on page 24.