Biomarkers offer new hope for pancreatic cancer patients

The prognosis for pancreatic cancer (PC) patients is among the worst of all cancers. Globally,  just 13% of patients who are diagnosed with PC survive for five years or more after initial diagnosis. In Ireland, there are approximately 900 cases of PC per year, and 820 PC-related deaths. Early detection of PC is the primary concern of most research in this area, as it has the potential to make a substantial difference to the treatment and survival of patients.

Survival rates, however, remain poor due to the vague nature of the symptoms associated with early-stage PC, and subsequently the late-stage of the disease at diagnosis. Now researchers from Trinity College Dublin are focussing on pancreatic cystic lesions to tackle the crucial issue of identifying patients who are at high-risk of developing pancreatic cancer, to improve survival rates.

Pancreatic cystic lesions are fluid-filled sacs that can be found on or inside the pancreas. There are many different types of pancreatic cystic lesions, with some being benign and others having the potential to develop into PC. Unfortunately, clinicians’ ability to identify the pancreatic cystic lesions most likely to progress to PC is quite poor.

Professor Stephen Maher said his team’s research aims to deepen understanding of pancreatic cysts and their role in cancer progression. ‘Our work also aspires to develop a much less invasive procedure to monitor these patients, making surveillance easier for both patients and clinicians.’

New research, published in Scientific Reports, has identified a number of factors within the patients’ blood and the fluid in their pancreatic cystic lesions, which can be found at different levels in patients who are at a low-risk or a high-risk of PC development. These biomarkers have been combined in this study to create a unique biomarker panel that shows high accuracy in its ability to distinguish between low-risk and high-risk patients.

The results reported in this study not only describe the deregulation of proteins and genetic material in pancreatic disease, but also demonstrate their potential utility as biomarkers of patient PC risk. While these data remain to be validated in a larger, independent cohort, it may be cause for optimism in a field beset by poor outcomes.

The group’s work generated four large datasets that are now publicly available for download and use. Together, these datasets can be combined into a larger and unique dataset that has been unavailable online until now and can be used for a myriad of research purposes, such as the development of new treatments for PC patients, or the identification of key biological pathways involved in pancreatic cystic lesion development or progression to PC.

‘Improving outcomes and survival rates for patients facing a pancreatic cancer diagnosis is our research priority,’ said Dr Laura Kane, Research Ireland Postdoctoral Research Fellow. ‘In this study we have created a promising biomarker panel with the potential to help us identify individuals with a high risk of developing pancreatic cancer. Our hope is that with further development, this biomarker panel will enable us to effectively monitor high-risk patients, detect pancreatic cancer at an earlier stage, and therefore improve outcomes and survival rates for these patients.’