PTGS2 and familial pancreatic carcinoma: To test our hypothesis that simultaneous inhibition of the Ras and COX-2 pathways will potently inhibit the growth and induce apoptosis in pancreatic cancer cells in vitro and in vivo, we investigated the effects of atorvastatin, celecoxib and tipifarnib alone or in combination on the growth and apoptosis of human pancreatic cancer Panc-1 cells cultured in vitro or grown as xenograft tumors in SCID mice.