TOPLINE:
The new blood-based assay PAC-MANN-1 (protease activity–based cancer marker using magnetic nanosensor-1) identified pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) across all stages with high specificity and sensitivity. The assay showed improved detection of early-stage cancer when combined with carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA 19-9).
METHODOLOGY:
- CA 19-9, the only Food and Drug Administration–approved biomarker for PDAC, has a low positive predictive value for early-stage disease, highlighting the urgent need for specific, accessible, and cost-effective biomarker assays for effective screening and monitoring of cancer risk.
- Researchers aimed to detect PDAC by taking advantage of the increased cancer-associated protease activity in the blood of patients with the disease. They screened a series of protease-cleavable…