New blood test detects pancreatic cancer early with high accuracy

Researchers have developed an inexpensive blood test that they say can detect pancreatic cancer — even in its early stages. By using a very small blood sample, researchers from Oregon Health & Science University say they can detect changes in the enzyme that breaks down protein, protease.

According to researchers, the production of proteases is a hallmark of cancer progression and can also inform diagnosis of certain cancers. The test is called PAC-MANN — an abbreviation for “protease activity-based assay using a magnetic nanosensor.” The PAC-MANN test was able to differentiate — 98% of the time — between the blood of someone with pancreatic cancer and the blood of someone who doesn’t have the disease.

When used alongside the existing CA 19-9 test, it was able to diagnose early-stage pancreatic cancer with 85% accuracy. It also helped spot early-stage cancer with 85% accuracy when used along with the CA 19-9 test.

Most of the time people with pancreatic cancer, their cancer is found when it has already crept into other organs and can’t be removed with surgery. This is because early-stage disease doesn’t have visible symptoms, and there aren’t any reliable tests to check for it. 

If pancreatic cancer is diagnosed earlier, chances of living for 5 years after diagnosis are much higher: 44% for early-stage disease versus 3% for late-stage disease. 

“So when you look at pancreatic cancer, you have two different cohorts that you’re looking at. Those that have a higher risk for developing pancreatic cancer, we’ve developed some pretty decent tests to actually identify those earlier on. We tend to do MRIs, we tend to do EUSs, tend to do all of these invasive tests, but still end up detecting this earlier, catching it earlier, and potentially curing them all,” said Dr. Madappa Kundranda, the Division Chief of Cancer Medicine at Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center.