Woosol Chris Hong

Abstract Pancreatic cancer is an aggressive disease with low survival and high recurrence rates. A major obstacle in treating pancreatic cancer is the frequent development of chemoresistance to the standard therapeutic drug, gemcitabine. One mechanism by which pancreatic cancer develops chemoresistance is through the proliferation of cancer stem cells (CSC). However, the mechanisms regulating stemness in chemoresistant tumors remain unclear.

1. Introduction Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is an aggressive cancer characterized by a poor prognosis and high mortality rates. Despite improvements in treatments, the incidence of pancreatic cancer is increasing, and it is ranked the seventh leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide [1,2]. Approximately 80–85% of pancreatic cancers are determined as unresectable at the time of diagnosis, contributing to the low patient survival rates [3].