Pancreatic Cancer
Pancreatic cancer is a “top ten” cancer killer, causing over 259,000 deaths per year worldwide. In the United States, it is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality. A diagnosis of pancreatic cancer often carries a poor prognosis because patients are asymptomatic until advanced stages. The vast majority of cases of pancreatic cancer are diagnosed when cancer has spread to adjacent tissues or widely beyond the site of origin. Consequently, the likelihood of a cure through surgical removal is extremely low. As with many other lethal cancers, early detection of pancreatic cancer promises to save many lives, as chances of survival are greatest when cancer is diagnosed at a stage when it is still confined to the pancreas.
Canary’s pancreatic cancer research program is focused on developing diagnostics with a high degree of sensitivity and specificity to detect lethal pancreatic cancers at an early stage. We anticipate that no single biomarker will be sufficient; instead, we are developing tests that will rely upon combinations of biomarkers and blood and imaging tests used together. To this end, the Canary pancreatic cancer team is collaborating to discover and validate biomarkers that will provide the basis for blood and imaging tests for the early detection of pancreatic cancer. We plan to follow up our research by moving effective early detection tests into the hands of clinical providers so that patients can begin to benefit as soon as possible.
Progress & Results
- Creation of blood tests in collaboration with The Lustgarten Foundation’s project to generate reagents for 60 pancreatic cancer biomarkers completed in 2010
- Multi-institutional cohort of blood samples, including early stage pancreatic cancers and a variety of symptomatic controls, for validating potential blood biomarkers created in 2011
- Established targeted microbubble-based molecular imaging to demonstrate early detection of pancreatic cancer in mice (testing ongoing)
→ Meet the Pancreatic Cancer Research Team
