As both progenitor and mature neoplastic pancreatic cells are sensitive to ATRA administration [11, 33], we evaluated the involvement of Vav1 in the retinoid-induced differentiation and/or trans-differentiation of cell lines derived from a well differentiated (HPAC) or a poorly (PL45) differentiated primary PDCA, and from the metastatic site of a moderately differentiated pancreatic adenocarcinoma (HPAF-2), expressing different levels of Vav1. The gene discussed is VAV1; the disease is pancreatic adenocarcinoma.