Blood test shows promise for early pancreatic cancer detection

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By Olivia Bowthorpe

A blood test combining several biomarkers could help detect pancreatic cancer at an early stage, a study suggests.

The test, called PANXEON, measures circulating microRNAs, exosomal microRNAs and the protein CA19-9 to produce a score showing the likelihood of pancreatic cancer.

Researchers, who assessed the liquid biopsy in almost 1,800 people, found it correctly identified stage 1 and 2 pancreatic cancer in 87% of cases.

The false-positive rate was 3% among people considered to be at low risk of pancreatic cancer and 16% among those at high risk, according to the study led by Ajay Goel, professor and chair of the Department of Molecular Diagnostics and Experimental Therapeutics at City of Hope cancer research and treatment centre in California.

Professor Goel told Doctors.net.uk: "For clinicians, I think the most important aspect of this study is that PANXEON was tested in the setting where an early detection blood test would actually need to work: among people with familial or hereditary risk, pancreatic cysts, chronic pancreatitis, and other high-risk conditions, rather than simply comparing patients with cancer against healthy controls.