Abstract
Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive tumours. It is characterized by poor prognosis and short survival after potentially radically surgical treatment. The problem of pancreatic cancer is aggravated by mostly delayed diagnostics and a high number of metastatic cases of pancreatic cancer. The solution could be to find target molecules for early diagnostics and treatment or to find convincing aetiological factors or the most important risk factors. In this study we summarize recently published data of pancreatic cancer development, morphological changes, the pre-neoplastic lesions and the molecular pathogenesis of pancreatic cancer, which can help to find specific molecules for tumour detection, tumour progression and treatment.