Get pumped!
Scientists from Oregon Health & Science University have developed a blood test called PAC-MANN that is said to be less invasive, cheaper and more robust than traditional screening methods for pancreatic cancer, potentially leading to more treatment options and better outcomes.
“The problem with pancreatic cancer is that we often catch it too late,” said Jared Fischer, a scientist with OHSU Knight Cancer Institute’s Cancer Early Detection Advanced Research Center (CEDAR).
“Our goal with PAC-MANN is to give clinicians a tool that can detect the disease much earlier, when more treatment options are available and there is a better chance of survival,” Fischer added.
What is pancreatic cancer?
The pancreas, a gland situated behind the stomach, produces digestive enzymes that break down food and secretes hormones like insulin to regulate blood sugar.
The exact cause of pancreatic cancer is unknown, but some genetic syndromes, smoking, obesity, diabetes, chronic pancreatitis and excessive alcohol use can raise your risk.
Pancreatic cancer is often discovered in advanced stages because it doesn’t usually cause symptoms until it has spread to other organs, limiting treatment options.
The American Cancer Society estimates that 67,400 Americans will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this year and nearly 52,000 will die from the disease.
How could PAC-MANN help?
PAC-MANN was created using blood samples from 350 patients who had pancreatic cancer, were at high risk for it or were controls.
The research team looked for proteins in the blood called proteases that become more active in people with the most common and deadly form of pancreatic cancer.
PAC-MANN was able to discern patients with pancreatic cancer from healthy patients and those with non-cancerous pancreatic issues 98% of the time.
It also helped detect early-stage cancer with 85% accuracy when used with a CA 19-9 blood test. Turnaround time for that test, which measures the level of the protein cancer antigen 19-9, is typically one to two days.
“The big difference with [PAC-MANN] is the cost: It takes only 8 microliters of blood and 45 minutes to run the test at a cost of less than a penny per sample,” said Jose L. Montoya Mira, a research engineer at OHSU’s CEDAR and the study’s lead author. “This could easily be used in rural and underserved settings, where traditional tests are not or cannot be used.”
PAC-MANN could also track how well treatments were working and guide therapeutic decisions.
What’s next?
The results of the study were published this week in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
Montoya and Fischer have plans for more trials, including one involving patients at high risk of developing pancreatic cancer.
“Hopefully,” Fischer said, “this is one step toward ending cancer as we know it.”
