siRNA directed against TrkA sensitizes human pancreatic cancer cells to apoptosis induced by gemcitabine through an inactivation of PI3K/Akt-dependent pathway

Pancreatic cancer is a lethal disease.Despite sig-nificant advances in diagnosis,staging,and surgicalmanagement of the disease,less than10%of pa-tients survive for more than one year fromthe ti meof diagnosis[1-2].The largely refractory response tochemotherapy is a common feature of this disease,and eventhe principal therapeutic agent,the nucleo-side analogue gemcitabine(2′,2′-difluorodeoxycyt-idine),only marginally affects clinical outcomes[3].Therefore,further understanding of the chemores…