Marker Blood Test Helps To Detect Pancreatic Cancer Early

Pancreatic cancer is responsible for roughly 40,000 deaths in American, annually--a health issue can be particularly difficult to diagnose, according to health officials.

Now, scientists believe they have discovered a marker blood test that could help to detect the health issue early on. More information regarding the findings are documented in the journal Nature Medicine.

"Most people with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) - by far the most common form of pancreatic cancer - are diagnosed after the disease has reached an advanced stage, and many die within a year of diagnosis," said Dr. Brian Wolpin, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA, via Medical News Today. "Detecting the disease earlier in its development may improve our ability to treat it successfully."

As the pancreas is located so far deep inside the body, it can be difficult to diagnose the health issue so early on. Oftentimes, symptoms may be caught too late before the problem is already more severe and too difficult to treat.

For the study, researchers examined previously collected blood samples from 1,500 people who were part of large health-monitoring studies. More than 100 compounds were made during the metabolic process, known as metabolites.

Furthermore, they discovered that many who went on to develop pancreatic cancer had higher blood levels of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), otherwise known as essential nutrients that the body extracts from proteins found in the blood and could be found in patients 2-25 years before they were diagnosed.

Further investigation also revealed that muscle tissue is partially responsible for process release in the blood stream.

"Most people with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma [by far the most common form of pancreatic cancer] are diagnosed after the disease has reached an advanced stage, and many die within a year of diagnosis," Wolpin concluded, via Health Day. "Detecting the disease earlier in its development may improve our ability to treat it successfully."