Access through your institution Buy or subscribe > We are still limited by a lack of knowledge about the detailed > molecular mechanisms driving pancreatic cancer development and > 

maintenance. Rune Toftgård Patients with the most common form of pancreatic cancer, ductal adenocarcinoma, barely respond to therapy. A study in mice now opens the door to a new approach.

Olive _et al_.1 took aim at the tough layer of fibroblasts that encase such tumors and limit their accessibility to drugs. This inhibitor, in combination with a more conventional drug

(gemcitabine), allowed blood vessels to penetrate such tumors and shrank them in a mouse model. The lives of the mice were extended only by a few weeks, but the approach opens the door to

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REFERENCES * Olive, K.P. et al. _Science_ 324, 1457–1461 (2009). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Bailey, J.M. et al. _Clin. Cancer Res._ 14, 5995 (2008). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  *

Bailey, J.M. et al. _Oncogene_ (in the press). Download references RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Hedgehog inhibitor pokes tumor. _Nat

Med_ 15, 734 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0709-734 Download citation * Issue Date: July 2009 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0709-734 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following

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