To coincide with World Cancer Day 2025, we looked at the Maher Lab Group in Trinity St. James’s Cancer Institute and the work of Dr. Laura Kane, Research Ireland Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Professor Barbara Ryan, Consultant Gastroenterologist, and Professor Stephen Maher, Professor in Translation Oncology.

Pancreatic cancer is the worst prognosis cancer globally, with just 13% of patients who are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer surviving for 5 years or more after their diagnosis. The poor survival rates seen in this cancer are attributed to the vague nature of the symptoms associated with early-stage pancreatic cancer, and subsequently the late-stage of the disease at initial diagnosis. Pancreatic cystic lesions are fluid-filled sacs that can be found on or inside the pancreas. There are many different subtypes of pancreatic cystic lesions, with some being benign and others having the potential to progress to pancreatic cancer. Unfortunately, our ability to identify the pancreatic cystic lesions most likely to progress to pancreatic cancer, and therefore termed ‘high-risk,’ is quite poor. One arm of research in the Maher lab group, led by Dr. Laura Kane, Professor Barbara Ryan and Professor Stephen Maher, focuses on the crucial issue of identifying patients who are at high-risk of developing pancreatic cancer, in an effort to improve survival rates of patients facing a pancreatic cancer diagnosis.   

This research has identified a number of factors both within the blood serum and the pancreatic cystic lesion fluid, which can be found at various levels in patients who are at a low-risk or a high-risk of pancreatic cancer development. These factors, or ‘biomarkers,’ have been combined in this study to create a novel biomarker panel that shows high accuracy in its ability to distinguish low-risk and high-risk patients. While this research is in its initial stages, it shows promise for the early detection of high-risk patients and could therefore result in detection of pancreatic cancer at an earlier stage, enabling better treatment outcomes and improved survival rates for these patients.

This study has also generated four datasets that are now publicly available for download and use. With matched gene level (transcriptome) and protein level (proteome) data for the blood serum and pancreatic cystic fluid of the patients recruited to this study, these datasets will enable other researchers globally to utilise this data for other purposes, such as generating new targets for pancreatic cancer treatment.

Dr. Laura Kane has recently been awarded a 2-year Research Ireland Postdoctoral Research Fellowship to continue this work under the mentorship of Professor Stephen Maher.

Commenting on the new findings, Professor Stephen Maher said: “This research aims to better understand the biology of pancreatic cysts and how they contribute to the development of pancreatic cancer. Our work also aspires to develop a much less invasive procedure to monitor these patients, making surveillance easier for the patients and clinicians.”

The research findings which have been published in Scientific Reports can be read in full here.

This work was funded by the Meath Foundation and Viatris Ireland.

Professor Stephen Maher, Associate Professor in Translational Oncology, Trinity College Dublin