Once the candidate gene was identified, sequencing verified that a mutation in the cytoskeleton scaffold gene palladin causes familial pancreatic cancer in Family X. We demonstrated that the mutated allele is expressed and that the consequence of the P239S mutation is a change in amino acids at the essential alpha-actinin binding site leading to distinctive changes in the actin bundle morphology. This evidence concerns the gene PALLD and familial pancreatic carcinoma.