Molecular profiling and precision medicine for pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal cancers. Despite our collective knowledge of driver mutations and disrupted signaling pathways that support and facilitate pancreatic tumorigenesis, chemotherapy remains the cornerstone of standard of care treatment options. Fortunately, recent studies have proven that molecular profiling of pancreatic cancer is facile and roughly a quarter of patients have actionable mutations (i.e., BRCA1/2) that can be targeted (i.e., precision oncology). Herein, we explore the best-in-class targeted therapies for pancreatic cancer; evaluate recent pertinent clinical studies; and provide a glimpse into the future infrastructure of how precision medicine might work for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.