Increased sensitivity of BRCA2-deficient pancreatic cancer cell line CAPAN1 to mitoxantrone, etoposide and amsacrine, but not to paclitaxel, as assessed by a cell survival assay. Antisense down-regulation of BRCA2 in BRCA2-proficient pancreatic cancer cells resulted in hypersensitivity to mitoxantrone. CAPAN1 xenografted tumors showed nearly complete response to mitoxantrone and marked response to etoposide. Here, BRCA2 is linked to familial pancreatic carcinoma.