Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers worldwide, and life expectancy after diagnosis is often short. Most pancreatic\ntumours appear sporadically and have been highly related to habits such as cigarette smoking, high alcohol intake, high\ncarbohydrate, and sugar consumption. Other observational studies have suggested the association between pancreatic cancer and\nexposure to arsenic, lead, or cadmium. Aside fromthese factors, chronic pancreatitis and diabetes have also come to be considered\nas risk factors for these kinds of tumours. Studies have found that 10% of pancreatic cancer cases arise from an inherited syndrome\nrelated to some genetic alterations. One of these alterations includes mutation in BRCA2 gene. BRCA2 mutations impair DNA\ndamage response and homologous recombination by direct regulation of RAD51. In light of these findings that link genetic factors\nto tumour development,DNA damage agents have been proposed as target therapies for pancreatic cancer patients carrying BRCA2\nmutations. Some of these drugs include platinum-based agents and PARP inhibitors. However, the acquired resistance to PARP\ninhibitors has created a need for new chemotherapeutic strategies to target BRCA2. The present systematic review collects and\nanalyses the role of BRCA2 alterations to be used in early diagnosis of an inherited syndrome associated with familiar cancer and\nas a prognostic and predictive biomarker for the management of pancreatic cancer patients.
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