SMAD4-Expressing Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinomas Have Better Response to Neoadjuvant Therapy and Significantly Lower Lymph Node Metastasis Rates

Objective For many patients whose pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is locally advanced, neoadjuvant therapy has been proposed as a way to decrease tumor burden. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is generally thought to be resistant to chemotherapy and radiation, however, response to neoadjuvant therapy in PDAC has been described in a subset of patients. The SMAD4 status is considered to be an important molecular feature which distinguishes...