New research brings hope for improved early detection of pancreatic cancer

Posted on: 14 February 2025

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is the worst prognosis cancer globally, with just 13% of patients who are diagnosed with PC surviving for 5 years or more after initial diagnosis. In Ireland, there are approximately 900 cases of PC per year, and 820 PC-related deaths. Early detection of PC is the primary concern of most PC research, as it has the potential to make a substantial difference to the treatment and survival of patients.

Survival rates, however, remain poor due to the vague nature of the symptoms associated with early-stage PC, and subsequently the late-stage of the disease at diagnosis. Now researchers from the Maher lab group, School of Medicine at Trinity College Dublin are focussing on pancreatic cystic lesions to tackle the crucial issue of identifying patients who are at high-risk of developing pancreatic cancer, to improve survival rates.

Their study was recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Scientific Reports published by Nature Portfolio.

Pancreatic cystic lesions are fluid-filled sacs that can be found on or inside the pancreas. There are many different types of pancreatic cystic lesions, with some being benign and others having the potential to develop into PC. Unfortunately, our ability to identify the pancreatic cystic lesions most likely to progress to PC, and therefore termed ‘high-risk,’ is quite poor.

Research from the Maher lab has identified a number of factors within the patients’ blood and the fluid in their pancreatic cystic lesions, which can be found at different levels in patients who are at a low-risk or a high-risk of PC development. These factors, or ‘biomarkers,’ have been combined in this study to create a unique biomarker panel that shows high accuracy in its ability to distinguish between low-risk and high-risk patients. At present, there are several sets of clinical guidelines worldwide used to separate patients into risk groups based on their clinical presentation and symptoms. However, the existence of several sets of guidelines worldwide indicates the lack of agreement among clinicians as to the best way to separate patients into risk groups. As such, our ability to distinguish low-risk and high-risk patients is imperfect and could therefore be contributing to the overall problem of early detection.

The results reported in this study not only describe the deregulation of proteins and genetic material in pancreatic disease, but also demonstrate their potential utility as biomarkers of patient PC risk. While these data remain to be validated in a larger, independent cohort, the Maher lab group biomarker panel could have a profound impact on our ability to identify patients at risk of developing PC at an earlier stage.

The group’s work generated four large datasets that are now publicly available for download and use. Together, these datasets can be combined into a larger and unique dataset that has been unavailable online until now and can be used for a myriad of research purposes, such as the development of new treatments for PC patients, or the identification of key biological pathways involved in pancreatic cystic lesion development or progression to PC.

The research has been spearheaded by Dr Laura Kane, Research Ireland Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Professor Barbara Ryan, Consultant Gastroenterologist, and Professor Stephen Maher, Professor in Translational Oncology.

Dr Laura Kane, Senior Author and Maher lab group member said:

"Improving outcomes and survival rates for patients facing a pancreatic cancer diagnosis is our research priority. In this study we have created a promising biomarker panel with the potential to help us identify individuals with a high risk of developing pancreatic cancer. Our hope is that with further development, this biomarker panel will enable us to effectively monitor high-risk patients, detect pancreatic cancer at an earlier stage, and therefore improve outcomes and survival rates for these patients."

Professor Stephen Maher research group lead 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 both patients and clinicians.”

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

READ: You can read the full paper, Multi-omic biomarker panel in pancreatic cyst fluid and serum predicts patients at a high risk of pancreatic cancer development at the following link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-83742-4

• Tags:
• Health
• Research
• Science