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new technology catches over 95 per cent of deadly cancer
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pancreatic cancer is difficult to diagnose because symptoms do not often appear during the early stages of the disease when surgery is still an option. getty
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a new screening tool successfully detected 95.5 per cent of stage 1 pancreatic cancers in a pilot study that offers some much-needed hope to patients affected by the devastating disease and other difficult-to-diagnose cancers.
the new platform, detailed in the journal nature communications medicine, was also able to identify 74.4 per cent of stage 1 ovarian cancers and 73.1 per cent of pathologic stage 1a lethally aggressive serous ovarian adenocarcinomas — all with 99 per cent specificity.
“the pancreatic cancer result is particularly promising,” said scott m. lippman, co-senior author of the paper and director of moores cancer center at uc san diego health. “these results are five times more accurate in detecting early-stage cancer than current liquid biopsy multi-cancer detection tests.”
the pilot study, which included 139 stage 1 and 2 cancer patients and 184 controls, was the first clinical test of the new technology, known as high-conductance di-electrophoresis. the platform works by identifying extracellular vesicles (evs) containing tumour proteins that are released into circulation by cancer cells. artificial intelligence is used to analyze markers for these proteins and predict the probability of malignancy.
while liquid biopsies are an effective method of monitoring cancer, they are not always ideal for early detection. “they can cause real harm to otherwise healthy people when used for early-disease screening due to unacceptably high false-positive rates that lead to diagnostic tests that are not only expensive but often dangerous,” lippman said.
third-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in canada
pancreatic cancer is difficult to diagnose because symptoms — which include jaundice, abdominal or upper back pain, unexplained weight loss and fatigue — do not often appear during the early stages of the disease when surgery is still an option. evidence of the aggressive cancer can also vary depending on the precise location of tumours, which makes diagnosis a frustrating ordeal for patients.
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an estimated 6,000 canadians were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2020, according to the canadian cancer society, with roughly 5,300 patients succumbing to the disease. it was expected to be the third-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in canada in 2021, behind lung and colorectal cancers. while patient prognosis varies depending on how early the cancer is detected, the five-year net survival rate is just eight per cent in canada.
“pancreatic cancer has the lowest five-year relative survival rate of all major cancer killers and is the only one for which both the incidence and death rates are increasing,” said andrew lowy, clinical director for cancer surgery at uc san diego health moores cancer center, and chief of division of surgical oncology at uc san diego school of medicine. “pancreatic cancer is notoriously difficult to detect early, at a stage when surgical resection, the only curative therapy, is possible. at this stage, patients typically have few if any symptoms.”
it the results from this new technology are validated, doctors would have a valuable new tool in their arsenal in the fight against cancer. “we can greatly reduce the mortality from this disease, which will soon become the second-leading cause of cancer mortality in the u.s.,” lippman said.
dave yasvinski is a writer with healthing.ca
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