Ready, Set, Go: The EGF Receptor at the Pancreatic Cancer Starting Line

Acinar-to-ductal metaplasia (ADM) results from pancreatic injury or KRAS activation, and is an early step in pancreatic cancer progression. In this issue of Cancer Cell, Ardito and colleagues and Navas and colleagues demonstrate that ADM- and KRAS-driven pancreatic cancer require EGFR signaling, revealing a mechanism for developmental reprogramming that primes tumorigenesis.