In the present study, only the most frequent KRAS2 gene mutation G12D (aspartic acid) observed in pancreatic cancer (Iguchi et al, 1996; Tada et al, 1998; Castells et al, 1999; Watanabe et al, 1999) was analysed in the serum of patients and controls, in order to limit the cost of such test and to validate it in clinical practice. Here, KRAS is linked to familial pancreatic carcinoma.