Causes of Pancreatic Cancer

The exact reason for pancreatic cancer still needs to be explored. But there are several factors that account for it like smoking, diet etc. it has been observed that smoking and consumption of red meat and fat increases the chances of this kind of cancer. With smoking the risk factor increases.

The association of diabetes and cancer is still unknown. But the fact remains that diabetic person is more prone to this disease. Also people complaining with inflammation in the pancreas run the risk of being a pancreatic cancer patient in the long run. This condition is also known as chronic pancreatitis. Even research show that certain chemical substances like gasoline and chemicals used for dry cleaning lead to this kind of cancer.

The exocrine and the endocrine portions are responsible for cancer of the pancreas. Approximately 95% tumor develops in the exocrine portion. These include the lymphatic tissue, ductal epithelium, connective tissue and the acinar cells. The 75% happens with the head and the neck region of the pancreas.

The 5-10% of cancer accounts in the tail region, while the 15-20% results in the body of the pancreas. A pancreatic cancer first metastasizes in the lymph nodes and then to the liver, some may even spread to the lungs but this happens very rare. This cancer can even spread to the stomach, colon or the duodenum.

Studies show those mutations in KRAS2 gene results in t80-95% tumors while CDKN2 gene accounts for 85-98% for deletions, hypermethylation and mutation, of these 50%show mutation in TP53 and 55% deletions of Smad4.

But the main factor is the chronic inflammation in the pancreas that results in this cancer. This mainly happens with the consumption of alcohol. Exocrine cells found in the pancreas can form benign tumor, most of them are cyst adenomas. The lesser found type of the exocrine pancreas cancer is of the adenosquamous carcinoma, the giant cell carcinoma and the squamous cell carcinoma. They can be distinguished by examining under the microscope.