Cover image

Cover A mouse model of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma that recapitulates the genetics and pathology of the human disease. Shown here is a hematoxylin and eosin-stained photomicrograph of a pancreatic adenocarcinoma occurring in a 10-wk-old mouse with pancreas-specific activation of oncogenic Kras and homozygous deletion of the Ink4a/Arf tumor suppressor locus. This tumor (lower-left half of image) has invaded through the intestinal muscle wall (highlighted circle) and into the adjacent intestinal epithelium (upper right). The inset panels depict the age-dependent onset and progression of these malignancies:The mice first develop multifocal low-grade pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN, left). These lesions progress to higher-grade PanIN structures (middle) and eventually to invasive and metastatic cancers (right ). (For details, see Aguirre et al., 3112, and the related paper by Lewis et al., 3127)