Researchers at Kanazawa University in Japan have revealed a test based on analyzing gene expression in the blood that may allow for the detection of pancreatic cancer in its early stages, which could contribute to increasing the chances of treatment
Pancreatic cancer is one of the most dangerous types of cancer due to the difficulty in detecting it early. The five-year survival rate in Japan is only 8.5%, according to data from the National Cancer Center for the period between 2009 and 2011. Surgical intervention after early diagnosis remains the only way to achieve a cure, but most patients are not diagnosed until the disease has reached advanced stages, while cases diagnosed in their early stages represent only 2 to 3% of all cases.
To overcome this problem, a research team led by Dr. Yamashita from Kanazawa University developed a diagnostic test called Panregza, which combines whole blood gene expression pattern analysis with measurement of the tumor marker CA19-9.
The test had previously proven effective in diagnosing advanced pancreatic cancer, but in the new study, researchers sought to determine its ability to detect the disease in its zero and first stages, which are the two stages in which the chances of treatment are greatly increased.
The study involved analyzing data from 10 patients with stage 0 and 1 pancreatic cancer, out of a total of 253 patients, and comparing it to data from 104 healthy individuals. The researchers evaluated three methods for detecting the disease: blood gene expression analysis, the CA19-9 test, and the Panregza combined test.
The results showed that gene expression analysis was the most accurate, detecting 9 out of 10 cases (90%). In contrast, the CA19-9 test detected only one case (10%). The combined Panregza test detected 60% of infected individuals and had a 93.3% accuracy rate in ruling out uninfected individuals.
The researchers believe that these results indicate that genetic changes associated with pancreatic cancer can be detected in the blood even when the tumor is very small, and before CA19-9 index levels rise, making gene expression analysis a promising method for early detection of the disease.
The study's findings are supported by data from the Innovative Research and Development Center for Pancreatic Cancer at Kanazawa University Hospital, which showed that five-year survival rates were 100% for patients with stage zero cancer and 74.4% for stage one patients, highlighting the importance of early diagnosis in saving patients' lives.
The researchers explained that most of the cells analyzed in the blood are immune cells, and the presence of a tumor appears to cause changes in their gene activity even in the early stages of the disease. This means the new test could detect pancreatic cancer early, even in patients whose conventional test results are normal, regardless of tumor size.
