Editorial Comment to “High Expression of Bloom Syndrome Helicase is a Key Factor for Poor Prognosis and Advanced Malignancy in Patients with Pancreatic Cancer: A Retrospective Study”

The number of patients with pancreatic cancer is increasing by 0.5–1.0% per year, and pancreatic cancer is projected to become the second leading cause of cancer-related mortality by 2030.¹ Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) accounts for the majority (90%) of pancreatic cancers, and is characterized by poor prognosis because of rapid growth, invasive progression, and chemoresistance, which make treatment difficult. Recently, comprehensive germline and somatic genomic sequencing have been performed to select subgroups of patients who may benefit from targeted treatment opportunities. The study by Lan and colleagues retrospectively evaluated Bloom syndrome helicase (BLM) expression in 182 patients with PDAC to determine the role of BLM expression in this cohort.² BLM is a key member of the RecQ subset of DNA helicases that contribute to genome maintenance and stability.³ The BLM protein has an ATP-dependent, 3’–5’ DNA helicase activity and plays important roles in the initiation and regulation of homologous recombination repair of double-strand breaks and in the restarting of stalled forks, while suppressing the firing of new origins in response to replication stress.⁴ High expression of BLM reportedly promotes tumor progression and reduces chemosensitivity in cancers of the lung, prostate, breast, and bile duct.⁵ …