Abstract:

Pancreatic cancer is a kind of malignant tumor with high mortality and low early diagnosis rate, therefore, studies of epidemiology and risk factors of pancreatic cancer may help develop effective screening measures so as to reduce mortality. Accurate staging of pancreatic cancer is of great significance for the formulation of standardized comprehensive treatment and prognosis. 32 recurrently mutated genes in pancreatic carcinogenesis are identified, and aggregate into 10 pathways, include KRAS, TGF-β, WNT, NOTCH, ROBO/SLIT signaling, G1/S transition, SWI-SNF, chromatin modification, DNA repair and RNA processing. Malignant cells often represent the minority of tissue mass in a pancreatic tumor, with the remainder of the tumor composed of extracellular matrix, pancreatic stellate cells, fibroblasts, endothelial cells and immune cells, etc. To some extent, therapeutic failures of chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy have been attributed to the pancreatic cancer

microenvironment. This review summarizes the pathology, microenvironment of pancreatic cancer, and explains how each cell type contributes to form an immunosuppressive, hypoxic, and desmoplastic tumor microenvironment.

Key words: Pancreatic cancer, Pathology, Tumor, Microenvironment