The need for effective pancreatic cancer detection and management: a biomarker-based strategy

• Published in: Expert review of molecular diagnostics Vol. 15; no. 10; p. 1339
• Main Authors: Crawley, Aoife S, O'Kennedy, Richard J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 03.10.2015
• Subjects: Biomarkers, Tumor - metabolism; Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal - diagnosis; Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal - genetics; Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal - metabolism; Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal - therapy; Disease Management; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; Humans; Pancreatic Neoplasms - diagnosis; Pancreatic Neoplasms - genetics; Pancreatic Neoplasms - metabolism; Pancreatic Neoplasms - therapy; Prognosis; Sequence Analysis, DNA; diagnostics; pancreatic cancer; therapeutics; CA19-9; biomarkers; tumor
• ISSN: 1744-8352
• DOI: 10.1586/14737159.2015.1083862

Pancreatic cancer (Pa) is generally a very aggressive disease, with few effective approaches available for early diagnosis or therapy. These factors, combined with the aggressiveness and chemoresistance of Pa, results in a bleak outcome post-diagnosis. Cancer-related biomarkers have established capabilities for diagnosis, prognosis and screening and can be exploited to aid in earlier less-invasive diagnosis and optimization of targeted therapies. Pa has only one US FDA-approved biomarker, CA19-9, which has significant limitations. Hence, it is vital that novel biomarkers are identified and validated to diagnose, treat, control and monitor Pa. This review focuses on existing and potential Pa-associated markers and discusses how they may be applied in cohort for improved management of Pa.