Human pancreatic cancers overexpress a number of important tyrosine growth factor
receptors and their ligands. These include the epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor
(EGFR) and related receptors, multiple ligands that bind to EGFR, certain fibroblast growth
factors (FGF) receptors (FGFR) and ligands, and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) and its
receptor. The excessive activation of mitogenic signaling cascades that are modulated by
these overexpressed ligands and receptors is compounded by the presence of mutations in …