Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive malignancies
worldwide, with a very low survival rate after diagnosis. KRAS
mutation is an early event in pancreatic tumorigenesis and is
critical for cancer initiation and progression. Elucidating the
underlying mechanisms regulating pancreatic organogenesis may help
to identify molecular pathways underlying exocrine pancreatic
carcinogenesis. The great progress in mouse models of pancreatic
cancer has raised expectations, however, the results of preclinical
trials of most new drugs that have shown good efficacy against
invasive pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma in mouse models have not
been confirmed in the clinical stage. Addressing this fundamental
problem may require the development of new
animal models.