Researchers from the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) and the Barcelona Biomedicine Research Institute (IIBB-CSIC-Idibaps) have found a new diagnostic marker for pancreatic cancer, which could be detected in its early stages with an analysis of blood.
The researchers from the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute, Pilar Navarro (l), and Neus Martínez-Bosch (d). EFE/Marta Perez.
This is a new valid marker for the diagnosis of pancreatic cancerone of those with the worst prognosis and which is the third cause of death from cancer in developed countries.
As explained by the researcher IMIM Neus Martínez-Bosch, have verified the usefulness of the receptor tyrosine-kinase AXL, a protein present on the surface of cells, to detect the presence of pancreatic cancer in patients.
This protein is usually absent in normal cells, but it has been shown that its presence is notably increased in certain types of tumors, such as those of the pancreas, in which it is related to the progression of the disease.
The finding of this new marker, which publishes the reBioMedicine magazine and in which researchers from the National Cancer Research Center (CNIO), the Ramón y Cajal Institute for Health Research (IRYCIS) and CIBER have also collaborated, is viable in the most common type of pancreatic cancer, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
With almost 8,700 cases of pancreatic cancer diagnosed in Spain in 2021the lack of diagnostic markers is one of the main problems, since only 20% of patients can be operated on time, and metastasis and resistance to treatment are common in more advanced tumors.
To demonstrate the usefulness of this marker, the researchers collected and analyzed blood samples from 59 patients from the Hospital del Mar, and the results were validated with a second group of 142 patients from the Hospital Clínic.
The study was complemented by a third cohort of familial pancreatic cancer, several animal models in mice, and in vitro analyzes in human tumor cells to corroborate them.
“We identified the levels of the soluble AXL protein in blood, collecting the plasma and analyzing the levels of this marker in the control group, in patients with chronic pancreatitis and in patients with pancreatic tumors”, Martínez-Bosch has detailed.
“In this way, we demonstrated the presence of the marker in the blood only in patients who had already developed the tumor, without being present in healthy individuals or in those suffering from chronic pancreatitis”, pointed out the IIBB-CSIC-IDIBAPS researcher Helena Cristóbal.
For the head of the Digestive Endoscopy section at Hospital del Mar, Luis Barranco, “this fact is very important since pancreatitis is a pathology that can make diagnosis difficult in patients with pancreatic cancer».
Marker in a blood test
The researchers have highlighted that the detection of this protein can be done with a simple blood test.
According to Pilar Navarro, IMIM research coordinator on new molecular targets for cancer, “the AXL protein is a specific marker that tells us that malignant cells already exist. It’s about a important findbecause sometimes some tumor markers are already present in preneoplastic lesions, although these lesions do not progress in all cases».
The researchers’ next step is to initiate a multicenter study to analyze data from a large group of patients to validate your discovery and put it into practice clinic immediately, as there is currently no biomarker for the early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.
The assistant doctor of the Hospital del Mar Oncology Service, Laura Visa, has highlighted that “having a new tool in the field of diagnosis is of special relevance because early diagnosis is essential for tumor surgery, the only treatment option healing”.
The researchers also want to determine which patients may benefit from this new marker, since a small number of pancreatic tumors do not express the AXL protein.
“We are very interested in knowing why some cancers do not express AXL, this could give us clues to know how the tumor mechanisms work that we could use as targets for treatments”, concluded the director of the Department of Cell Death and Proliferation of the IIBB -CSIC-IDIBAPS, Pablo García de Frutos.
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