Progress on Molecular Markers of Pancreatic Cancer
Progress on Molecular Markers of Pancreatic Cancer
Purpose of review: To describe advances in the development of biomarkers for pancreatic cancer over the past year.
Recent findings: Several new approaches were taken in the search for biomarkers for pancreatic cancer. Studies of CA19-9 revealed new prognostic abilities of the already well known biomarker. New blood biomarkers were investigated and CEACAM1 and MIC-1 were found to be superior to CA19-9 at distinguishing cancer from normal but, unfortunately, not from chronic pancreatitis. MUC1 was reported to be superior to CA19-9 based on the use of a novel immunoassay. The superiority of the concept of a panel of biomarkers as opposed to single biomarkers was supported by several studies, but no such panel was identified. RNA levels in blood and DNA methylation in pancreatic juice yielded some promising findings. Advancements were also made in the area of tissue biomarkers, which can improve the diagnostic accuracy of fine-needle aspirations and provide prognostic information. A new source of potential biomarkers, microRNAs, also made its debut in the past year.
Summary: The tools to identify pancreatic-cancer biomarkers and sources of samples needed in this search are expanding. The field has not yet achieved its aims, but several encouraging breakthroughs have been made.
Pancreatic cancer is a catastrophic disease, with few treatment options available for patients with the disease, a situation that leaves clinicians with little that they can do for such patients. A key to changing this situation is to diagnose the cancer at an earlier, more treatable, stage, when surgery can offer patients a better chance of cure. Thus, biomarkers that would enable the early detection of this disease and that would allow a greater percentage of patients to undergo curative surgery are being sought by laboratories around the world. Other types of biomarkers would also be useful, such as those that can distinguish pancreatic cancer from more benign diseases, those that could provide prognostic information, those that could predict responses to treatments, and those that can help determine the success of treatments.
Although much remains to be done, great strides have been made in this effort. Now, a plethora of candidate biomarkers have been identified by gene expression studies. Furthermore, new technologies in proteomics are revealing additional biomarkers. The aim of this review is to update the reader about important developments regarding molecular markers in pancreatic cancer reported in the literature in the past year. Several recent reports relevant to the issue of biomarker use and discovery have also been published, as was a previous review on the same topic, which was published in 2006.
Purpose of review: To describe advances in the development of biomarkers for pancreatic cancer over the past year.
Recent findings: Several new approaches were taken in the search for biomarkers for pancreatic cancer. Studies of CA19-9 revealed new prognostic abilities of the already well known biomarker. New blood biomarkers were investigated and CEACAM1 and MIC-1 were found to be superior to CA19-9 at distinguishing cancer from normal but, unfortunately, not from chronic pancreatitis. MUC1 was reported to be superior to CA19-9 based on the use of a novel immunoassay. The superiority of the concept of a panel of biomarkers as opposed to single biomarkers was supported by several studies, but no such panel was identified. RNA levels in blood and DNA methylation in pancreatic juice yielded some promising findings. Advancements were also made in the area of tissue biomarkers, which can improve the diagnostic accuracy of fine-needle aspirations and provide prognostic information. A new source of potential biomarkers, microRNAs, also made its debut in the past year.
Summary: The tools to identify pancreatic-cancer biomarkers and sources of samples needed in this search are expanding. The field has not yet achieved its aims, but several encouraging breakthroughs have been made.
Pancreatic cancer is a catastrophic disease, with few treatment options available for patients with the disease, a situation that leaves clinicians with little that they can do for such patients. A key to changing this situation is to diagnose the cancer at an earlier, more treatable, stage, when surgery can offer patients a better chance of cure. Thus, biomarkers that would enable the early detection of this disease and that would allow a greater percentage of patients to undergo curative surgery are being sought by laboratories around the world. Other types of biomarkers would also be useful, such as those that can distinguish pancreatic cancer from more benign diseases, those that could provide prognostic information, those that could predict responses to treatments, and those that can help determine the success of treatments.
Although much remains to be done, great strides have been made in this effort. Now, a plethora of candidate biomarkers have been identified by gene expression studies. Furthermore, new technologies in proteomics are revealing additional biomarkers. The aim of this review is to update the reader about important developments regarding molecular markers in pancreatic cancer reported in the literature in the past year. Several recent reports relevant to the issue of biomarker use and discovery have also been published, as was a previous review on the same topic, which was published in 2006.