Nam Q. Nguyen

TL;DR: Detailed genomic analysis of 456 pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas identified 32 recurrently mutated genes that aggregate into 10 pathways: KRAS, TGF-β, WNT, NOTCH, ROBO/SLIT signalling, G1/S transition, SWI-SNF, chromatin modification, DNA repair and RNA processing.

TL;DR: Genomic instability co-segregated with inactivation of DNA maintenance genes (BRCA1, BRCA2 or PALB2) and a mutational signature of DNA damage repair deficiency, and 4 of 5 individuals with these measures of defective DNA maintenance responded to platinum therapy.

TL;DR: It is found that frequent and diverse somatic aberrations in genes described traditionally as embryonic regulators of axon guidance, particularly SLIT/ROBO signalling, are also evident in murine Sleeping Beauty transposon-mediated somatic mutagenesis models of pancreatic cancer, providing further supportive evidence for the potential involvement ofAxon guidance genes in pancreatic carcinogenesis.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors performed whole-genome sequencing of 102 primary pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours and defined the genomic events that characterize their pathogenesis, including a deficiency in G:C,>T:A base excision repair due to inactivation of MUTYH, which encodes a DNA glycosylase.

TL;DR: These data demonstrate that a margin clearance of more than 1.5 mm is important for long-term survival in a subgroup of patients, and more aggressive therapeutic approaches that target locoregional disease such as radiotherapy may be beneficial in patients with close surgical margins.