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One of Australia鈥檚 deadliest cancers, pancreatic cancer is often diagnosed late due to a lack of specific symptoms in the early stages of the disease. By the time most patients are diagnosed, the cancer has grown and already begun to affect nearby organs.

A new research project from (the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research)鈥痗ould change this situation, potentially leading to the first early detection blood test for pancreatic cancer. The research has received critical funding from , The Australian Pancreatic Cancer Foundation.

鈥淭here are no early detection biomarkers for pancreatic cancer and this needs to urgently change,鈥� said Project Lead Dr Belinda Lee, a consultant medical oncologist at WEHI.

The project will build on WEHI鈥檚 breakthrough discovery of proteins that can identify early pancreatic cancer in patients.

鈥淲e have identified 13 proteins that could distinguish between the early and late stages of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) 鈥� the most common type of pancreatic cancer that鈥檚 fast becoming the cancer of our generation,鈥� Lee said.

鈥淲hile the 5-year survival rate of most other cancers has improved, the incidence and death rate from PDAC is rising 鈥� and it鈥檚 projected to become the second leading cause of cancer-related death by 2030.

鈥淓ven with a diagnosis, there are no biomarkers that can guide clinical decisions for pancreatic cancer, meaning clinicians have limited opportunities to ensure the right, and best, treatment for their patients,鈥� Lee explained.

3D structures formed by human pancreatic cancer cells. WEHI researchers are working on developing the first diagnostic test for pancreatic cancer, which could help triple the survival rate of pancreatic cancer by 2030. Credit: WEHI.

Lee鈥檚 team hopes to validate the 13 proteins and show that they can be used to reliably screen for early pancreatic cancer.

鈥淭his would allow us to create the first diagnostic test to identify patients who have early stages of pancreatic cancer 鈥� something that unfortunately does not exist at the moment,鈥� Lee said.

To achieve this goal, researchers will leverage the global PURPLE Pancreatic Cancer Translational Registry, established by Lee at WEHI in 2016, which also helped the team identify the 13 critical proteins.

The registry is a large-scale database that tracks the treatment journey of patients at 48 cancer centres across Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, with over 4000 patients and 2000 biospecimens currently available. Data from the registry confirms that 70% of patients present with advanced disease, highlighting the need for biomarkers to enable earlier detection.

鈥淲e will utilise state-of-the art technologies and computational methodologies to compare the protein signature in the blood of healthy individuals to pancreatic cancer patients with early- and late-stage disease,鈥� Lee said.

鈥淭he results will allow us to identify potential novel blood-based biomarkers that can be further developed to create a simple, non-invasive screening test to identify early-stage pancreatic cancer.

鈥淭he ultimate goal is that this tool leads to earlier diagnosis of this silent cancer, thereby increasing the number of patients who go into remission and helping us triple survival rates by 2030.鈥�

The project, 鈥楧evelopment of a blood-based test to identify patients with early pancreatic cancer鈥�, is supported by PanKind鈥檚 $100,000 Marianne Allan Pancreatic Cancer Research Grant.

Image caption: WEHI co-investigators Associate Professor Tracy Putoczki and Dr Belinda Lee. Image credit: WEHI.