pancreas diseases : Development of a blood test for pancreatic cancer pt1

Initial Award Abstract
Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal of human diseases. It is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death among men and women in the United States. Death normally occurs within a few months after the cancer is discovered.

Numerous scientific studies designed to reveal the causes of pancreatic cancer have consistently identified cigarette smoking as a significant risk factor. In fact, cigarette smoking remains the only well-established risk factor for pancreatic cancer. The risk of pancreatic cancer appears to correlate with the amount of cigarette smoking. These findings have been supported by experiments using laboratory animals, thus showing that cigarette smoking can cause pancreatic cancers.

At this time, the only therapy for pancreatic cancer is surgical removal of the tumor early in the course of the disease. Unfortunately, pancreatic cancer is usually discovered after the disease is far advanced. The diagnosis of pancreatic cancer currently requires sophisticated medical technology. A simple blood test that is able to indicate whether pancreatic cancer is present would represent a major step toward the early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. The early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer followed by surgery is currently the only hope for patient survival.

A blood test for pancreatic cancer may also help physicians follow the course of the disease. As new therapies are developed to treat pancreatic cancer, a blood test that can monitor cancer growth or regression would be very useful to monitor the progress of the patient. A similar test that measures the blood levels of a protein named prostate specific antigen has already been developed for prostate cancer. This test has proven to be invaluable for the detection and monitoring of prostate cancer.

Initial studies in our laboratory focused on the development a blood test for a protein, GP2, which is made only in the pancreas and is released into the bloodstream with pancreatic disease. In view of our previous successes, our efforts will now be devoted toward developing a similar blood test for humans with pancreatic diseases. If successful, the test will result in the early detection of pancreatic cancer and improve the chances of a cure for these patients. The test will also provide a means to measure the progress of the cancer as new therapies are developed in the future.

Anson Lowe , M.D