Toward stratification of patients with pancreatic cancer: Past lessons from traditional approaches and future applications with physical biomarkers

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has a high mortality rate and outcomes have not improved substantially for decades. Significant attention has focused on the biological drivers of the disease, and preclinical work has pointed to multiple biomarker candidates and therapeutic avenues. However, translation of these promising biomarkers and treatment strategies to patients has not been overwhelmingly successful. New strategies to account for the significant heterogeneity of the disease are needed so that rational treatments can be administered. Here, we focus on how physical sciences-based approaches may play a role in stratifying patients for clinical trials, and how this view of PDAC may reinvigorate treatment strategies that have been abandoned after “failing” to fulfill their potential in unselected patient populations. By complementing biological approaches, the development of physical biomarkers of PDAC may help deliver on the promise of personalized medicine for this devastating disease.