# Adenocarcinoma

Source: https://onco.cc/terms/adenocarcinoma/  
OnCo record `adenocarcinoma` (Term). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

A carcinoma arising from gland-forming cells, the kind that make mucus, milk, digestive juices or hormones. The most common type of breast, lung, colon, prostate, pancreas and stomach cancer.

## Summary

Adenocarcinoma cells often still try to form gland-like structures or produce mucus, which is how pathologists recognise them; an adenoma is the benign glandular counterpart, and colon adenocarcinomas in particular begin as adenomas. In lung cancer, the adenocarcinoma versus squamous distinction matters directly for treatment, because the druggable drivers (EGFR, ALK, ROS1, KRAS G12C) are found mostly in adenocarcinomas and pemetrexed is used only in non-squamous disease. Molecular testing of lung adenocarcinoma is now routine at diagnosis.

## Fields

- Kind: Term
- Last checked: 2026-09-09
- Also known as: adenocarcinomas; glandular; adenoma; adenomas; adeno; ductal adenocarcinoma; mucinous adenocarcinoma; signet ring; signet-ring; invasive lobular carcinoma; lobular; ductal; adenocarcinoma-term

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenocarcinoma
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenocarcinoma

## Connected records

- terms: [Carcinoma](https://onco.cc/terms/carcinoma/), [Genomic profiling](https://onco.cc/terms/genomic-profiling/), [Histology](https://onco.cc/terms/histology/), [Squamous cell carcinoma](https://onco.cc/terms/squamous-cell-carcinoma/), [Tumour differentiation (well / moderately / poorly differentiated)](https://onco.cc/terms/tumour-differentiation/)
- cancers: [Colorectal cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/colorectal/), [Gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/gastric/), [Non-small-cell lung cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/nsclc/), [Oesophageal cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/esophageal/), [Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/pancreatic/), [Prostate cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/prostate/)
- fronts: [Diagnostics & Biomarkers](https://onco.cc/fronts/diagnostics/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/adenocarcinoma.json