Firstly, inhibition of Survivin expression by anti-sense treatment has been reported to improve the effectiveness of chemotherapy (Olie et al, 2000) and might also impact on radiation therapy, especially in the light of experimental evidence that Survivin acts as a radio-resistance factor in pancreatic cancer cells (Asanuma et al, 2000). The gene discussed is BIRC5; the disease is familial pancreatic carcinoma.