New blood Test can detect Pancreatic Cancer with accuracy of 96%

IMMray PanCan-d serum biomarker microarray -- biomarker panel developed by the company Immunovia -- can detect early-stage pancreatic cancer with an accuracy of 96%, according to a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Professor Carl Borrebaeck, CREATE Health Cancer Center, Lund University, and colleagues conducted the major retrospective clinical validation study to investigate the accuracy of the biomarker panel developed for the detection of early-stage pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has a poor prognosis, with a 5-year survival of < 10% because of diffuse symptoms leading to late-stage diagnosis. It is widely accepted that that survival could increase significantly if localized tumors could be detected early to enable surgical intervention. To date, there is no standard early detection strategy to find pancreatic cancer before traditional diagnostic tools.

However, researchers across the country and the world, including those funded by the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN), are striving to discover ways to detect the disease in its earlier, more treatable stages. In particular, early detection could allow more patients to be eligible for potentially curative surgery.

As described in a press release issued by the company, the Immunovia test, consisting of 29 biomarkers (measurable biological clues), was found to have 96 percent accuracy to differentiate blood samples from patients with pancreatic cancer from those of healthy individuals.

The initial studies were conducted in the Scandinavian countries and then validated in the United States. In total, more than 1,700 samples were analyzed. Blood samples were taken from patients with varying stages of pancreatic cancer, people with chronic pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas) or intraductal papillary-mucinous neoplasm (IPMN, a precancerous abnormality that sometimes develops into invasive cancer), in addition to healthy individuals as a control.

“What differentiates this effort from previous blood test-based early detection studies is its international scope and the encouraging results in patients with early stages of pancreatic cancer,” said Lynn Matrisian, chief science officer at PanCAN.

“Before this can be adopted as a validated early detection test, though, prospective (forward-looking) studies would have to be conducted.”

The team at Immunovia launched PanFAM-1, a study aimed to use their biomarker panel to detect pancreatic cancer earlier in individuals who are at a high risk for the disease, based on their family history or genetic links.

Additional efforts are underway to detect the disease earlier in people based on family history, the presence of pancreatic cysts or individuals with new-onset diabetes over the age of 50.

“We’re encouraged to see several efforts, including the Immunovia test, that are now advanced enough to be tested in individuals at high risk for developing pancreatic cancer.”