Blood Test May Help Detect Pancreatic Cancer In Earliest Stages: Researchers

Blood test may help detect pancreatic cancer in earliest stages: Researchers Sep 22 Researchers have developed a blood test for detecting pancreatic cancer at its earliest stages, which can grow silently without major symptoms. Described in a paper in the journal Nature Medicine, the liquid biopsy, named PANXEON, was "highly sensitive" in detecting stage 1 and 2 pancreatic cancer and had a low rate of false positives, researchers said. They added the experimental test was also able to identify high-grade dysplasia, a precancerous condition of the pancreas, potentially enabling intervention before cancer develops.

"Pancreatic cancer remains so deadly largely because we find it after the window for cure has begun to close," senior author Ajay Goel, chair of the department of molecular diagnostics and experimental therapeutics at Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, US, said.

"For patients, these findings represent progress toward finding pancreatic cancer before symptoms appear and while more treatment options remain available," Goel said. Survival rate in pancreatic cancer is low because it can grow silently for months or years without early symptoms or with symptoms that look like minor illnesses. PANXEON works by testing a blood sample for three markers of pancreatic cancer -- circulating microRNAs, exosomal microRNAs and a protein called CA19-9.

The test then uses artificial intelligence to combine all three measurements into a single score that estimates a patient's risk. It is the first of its kind to combine the three biomarkers into a single test, the researchers said. The liquid biopsy was tested in nearly 1,800 patients from across the US, Italy, Japan and South Korea to determine whether previously reported results would hold up in diverse clinical settings.

The results were "very encouraging", with the blood test correctly identifying stage 1 and 2 pancreatic cancer 87 per cent of the time, the team said. The false-positive rate was found to be three per cent in low-risk groups, and 16 per cent in high-risk groups. Rather than replacing imaging or other diagnostic tests, PANXEON could help identify high-risk patients who should undergo further evaluation, Goel said.

The authors "present a composite biomarker that may complement existing strategies for the detection of early-stage PDAC (pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma) and warrants further large-scale prospective studies."

"PANXEON demonstrates potential for detecting high-grade dysplasia in individuals with high-risk pancreatic cysts (64.3 per cent)," they said. The result could help physicians better identify which pancreatic cysts require active monitoring or intervention before invasive cancer develops, the team said.

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