Evaluating Obesity-Mediated Mechanisms of Pancreatic Carcinogenesis in Minority Populations

This observational study will evaluate obesity-mediated mechanisms of pancreatic carcinogenesis in minority populations consisting of adult males or females, 18 years of age or older, who self-report as African American (AA) or Non-Hispanic White (NHW), and present to the gastrointestinal (GI) clinic, surgery, or endoscopy at a participating Florida Pancreas Collaborative (FPC) site or University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) with a clinical suspicion or diagnosis of a pancreatic tumor. This study will also include patients who have been previously recruited as part of the FPC study. Our central hypothesis is that adipose tissue (AT) dysfunction contributes to malignant transformation, therapeutic resistance, and poor survival among obese AA pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cases and such dysfunction will be characterized by unique biology. The primary objective of this multi-institutional and multidisciplinary translational study is to identify a molecular and imaging profile unique to paired PDAC tumors and AT from AA and harness biological observations to predict therapeutic response and target novel obesity-mediated mechanisms of PDAC development and progression using in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo techniques and new combinations of drug agents.