We have previously characterized the expression of syndecan-1 in pancreatic, esophageal, gastric, colon, and liver human cancer tissues, and demonstrated that syndecan-1 is up-regulated in pancreatic cancer but not in the other gastrointestinal malignancies, revealing that its expression might play an important role in the pathobiology of this disease [11]. Here, SDC1 is linked to familial pancreatic carcinoma.