Pancreatic cancer is a silent killer. Usually by the time it is detected; it is too late for the patient. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00438-z Researchers have developed a simple blood test to detect pancreatic cancer before it spreads to other sites in the body. The test could be used for routine screening to improve the disease’s low survival rate1.
Most pancreatic cancers begin in the ducts that secrete enzymes used to digest food. But this form of cancer often doesn’t cause recognizable symptoms and isn’t detectable until it has metastasized and spread, making it difficult to treat
Fischer and his colleagues focused on detecting enzymes called proteases, which break down proteins and are active in tumours, even from the very early stages. They specifically looked at the activity of matrix metalloproteinases involved in chewing up collagen and the extracellular matrix, which helps tumours to invade the body.
To detect the presence of these proteases in the blood, the researchers developed nanosensors containing a magnetic nanoparticle attached to a small peptide that attracts matrix metalloproteinases and a fluorescent molecule. They then placed millions of nanosensors in a tiny sample of blood.
The researchers tested the nanosensor on frozen blood samples from 356 individuals, some with pancreatic cancer, some with non-cancerous forms of pancreatic disease and healthy controls. The nanosensor correctly identified healthy individuals 98% of the time, and identified people with pancreatic cancer with 73% accuracy. It always distinguished between individuals with cancer and those with other pancreatic diseases.
Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University have developed a test called PAC-MANN, the abbreviation for “protease activity-based assay using a magnetic nanosensor,” which uses a small blood sample to detect changes in protease activity — a key indicator of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, or PDAC, the most common and deadly form of pancreatic cancer.
We need to wait for a much larger sample size than 356 and wait for thousands of real patients to use it and report.
The Grail blood test claims to detect multiple types of cancer. I actually bought a Grail test kit ($1,000) before my open-heart surgery. As a cancer survivor, I wanted to see if I had a hidden cancer somewhere in which case I would not have had the grueling heart surgery.
Then, by coincidence, an article was published in an important medical journal revealing actual statistics about the false positive and negative results from Grail used by a large patient population. There were so many that, in my opinion, the test was useless.
The timing worked out. I never opened the Grail test box. I returned it for a full refund.
I had the heart surgery. I still don’t know if I have a lurking cancer. Statistics show that the overall survival of symptom-free breast cancer survivors is not improved by testing. So I keep my fingers crossed. I was first diagnosed in 2013.
Not sure how good the accuracy will be. The stats may not stand the test of time. Plus the 2% lack of accuracy is worrisome. The 98% who are healthy are a nonfactor.
Interestingly, my FIL had a false diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. He had many of the symptoms, and pancreatic cancer seemed the most likely cause even though it couldn’t be definitively detected. But that’s not unusual because it is very hard to detect in the early phases.