Pancreatic Cancer PCR Array Primer Libraries

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Approximately 40,000 will be diagnosed and 37,000 patients will die of pancreatic cancer annually. The most common pancreatic cancers are pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas which are associated with a 5-year survival rate of 20% and for those with metastatic disease, the survival rate is only 2%. Poor survival is attributed to higher stage at the time of diagnosis and most pancreatic cancer patients present with unresectable disease. Genomic studies of pancreatic cancer have revealed that development of the disease is due to both genetic and epigenetic changes and genome-wide screening has identified a number of genes linked to pancreatic cancer. The Pancreatic Cancer Cell Library consists of primer sets designed to amplify genes that have been shown to be mutated or differentially expressed in pancreatic cancer. This library may be used to set up PCR arrays to readily analyze gene expression in this disease.