Evidence Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. May 7, 2021; 27(17): 1847-1863
Published online May 7, 2021. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v27.i17.1847
Pancreatic adenocarcinoma: Beyond first line, where are we?
Sara Cherri, Silvia Noventa, Alberto Zaniboni
Sara Cherri, Silvia Noventa, Alberto Zaniboni, Department of Oncology, Fondazione Poliambulanza, Brescia 25124, Italy
Author contributions: Cherri S contributed drafting of the manuscript; Noventa S contributed tables and figures; Noventa S and Zaniboni A contributed critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content; all the authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Each author certifies that he or she, or a member of his or her immediate family, has no funding or commercial associations (e.g., consultancies, stock ownership, equity interest, patent/Licensing arrangements) that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Sara Cherri, MD, Medical Assistant, Department of Oncology, Fondazione Poliambulanza, Via Bissolati 57, Brescia 25124, Italy. sara.m.cherri@gmail.com
Received: January 26, 2021
Peer-review started: January 26, 2021
First decision: February 27, 2021
Revised: March 9, 2021
Accepted: April 13, 2021
Article in press: April 13, 2021
Published online: May 7, 2021
Processing time: 92 Days and 11.1 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: The incidence of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is increasing, with anticipation of a large impact on the population. Despite achieving a survival gain in first-line treatment in the last decade, to date, little has been achieved in second-line treatment. The molecular and genetic characteristics of this tumour represent a fundamental challenge for preclinical and clinical research. In this review, we illustrate current clinical practice in second-line treatment for advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma and the research landscape of potential future prospects.