Epithelial plasticity is crucial for pancreatic cancer metastatic organotropism

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most lethal types of cancer with very poor patient outcomes. The limited efficacy of PDAC therapies is due to both late diagnosis and early development of metastases, giving patients few therapeutic options (1). The main sites of metastatic spread found in PDAC patients are the liver and lungs, with the latter, although less common, yielding significantly better prognosis for patients (40.3 vs. 29.9 months) (2). However, the molecular events controlling the development of metastasis in respective tissues have remained under-reported thus far. Understanding these processes and their potential manipulation, leading to the switch between different metastatic sites, could provide novel therapeutic opportunities for PDAC patients.