It has been reported that AT1R is expressed in various human malignant tumour tissues, including breast cancer (Inwang et al, 1997), skin cancer (Takeda and Kondo, 2001), pancreatic cancer (Fujimoto et al, 2001), laryngeal carcinoma (Marsigliante et al, 1996) and prostate cancer (Uemura et al, 2003). Here, AGTR1 is linked to familial pancreatic carcinoma.