The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced that researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and the Mayo Clinic have developed a panel of four biomarkers in blood plasma to detect pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). The results are published in Clinical Cancer Research.
According to the NIH, in two retrospective sample sets, the addition of two new protein markers—aminopeptidase N (ANPEP) and polymeric immunoglobulin receptor (PIGR)—to the already studied CA19-9 and thrombospondin-2 (THBS2) allowed cancer cases to be distinguished from “non-cancer” cases in 91.9% of observations, with a false positive rate of 5%. For early stages (I-II), the test identified 87.5% of cases.
The report emphasizes that the panel was able to distinguish between malignant cases and patients with non-malignant pancreatic diseases, including pancreatitis, which is important for future use in risk groups.
The authors note that the results obtained require further verification in larger and “pre-diagnostic” studies – that is, in people before the onset of symptoms, primarily among patients at increased risk (family history, genetic predisposition, cysts, or pancreatitis).
