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Like weeds sprouting from cracks in the pavement, cancer often forms in sites of tissue damage. That damage could be an infection, a physical wound, or some type of inflammation. Common examples include stomach cancer caused by H. pylori infection, Barrett's esophagus caused by acid reflux, and even smoking-induced lung cancer.
Exactly how tissue damage colludes with genetic changes to promote cancer isn't fully understood. Most of what scientists know about cancer concerns advanced stages of the disease. That's especially true for cancers such as pancreatic cancer that are usually diagnosed very late.
Researchers in Scott Lowe's lab at the Sloan Kettering Institute are now trying to zero in on the earliest stages of pancreatic cancer development.