Genetics and biology of pancreatic cancer and its precursor lesions: lessons learned from human pathology and mouse models

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) is one of the most fatal malignancies; it has an extremely poor prognosis due to its late diagnosis and limited response to conventional treatments. To improve PDA prognosis, new diagnostic and treatment strategies are urgently required. Recent genomic sequencing analyses revealed several mutated core signaling pathways and transcriptomic subtypes in PDA. A better understanding of PDA biology based on these genetic insights would promote the future development of novel diagnostic methods and treatments. In this review, we summarize our current understanding of PDA genetics and biology, predominantly via insights from mouse model studies.