PSA -- Folk who might have a genetic link to pancreatic cancer ...

[Woost2]

Sent by my cellular biologist cousin who is currently watching a cyst on her pancreas

Blood Test IDs Pancreatic Cancer in 250 of 250 Patients

http://www.dddmag.com/articles/2015/06/blood-test-ids-pancreatic-cancer-250-250-patients

My grandmother, my brother, and now cousin with cyst. I'm going to be looking into this one.

[scruffy the cat]

Wow. Wow. Wow. I will look into this as well. I have immediate family links to pancreatic cancer and breast cancer.

[Josette]

Thank you for posting this link! Same here with family hx.

Is this test now available for patients as covered by insurance?

[Woost2]

No clue. Get your doctor on board.

[carpevita]

I'Il bring this to my new oncologist's attention---the cancer I have usually manifests as pancreatic or small cell lung, so this test could be important to me, I really appreciate your sharing it.
Fwiw, so far my tumors have been feel-able, and close to the surface. I like to think that my body is pushing them out of me, to the surface where they can be dealt with.

[Josette]

Woost2 - I misunderstood and thought your cousin was having this test done on herself. Now to find out if it is available.....

[hoopoe]

Based on the Nature article, this was a study done using serum of Panc patients and mice ( with and without xenografts). This may mean the samples were both fresh and archival and attached to a clinical trial but not specifically for the purpose of validating the testing. It is early discover work. They do not have a commercial approval, they need to develop the technology ability ( last paragraph re antibody)

The report is very promising. Biomarkers are being sought as both a way to diagnose cancers and a way to follow Chemo response. Biomarkers are also used to indicate that the patient is a candidate for a specific targeted therapy like an ADC or Immunotherapy

There are no listings on Clinicaltrails.gov showing anything active on on-going so I would suspect this is a report of a newer discovery and that there will be future work involving a more focused purpose to validate this finding. Again it appears they need to develop an antibody that could serve to make a test ( standardized )

MD Anderson is one of the top resources for cancer therapy and research.

[Josette]

Hoopie - Thanks - it sounds very promising for the future. So sounds like it may takes years for test kit development, clinical trials and eventual approval.

[Woost2]

Thanks for the explanation, Hoopoe.

[hoopoe]

often test kits are developed and used in parallel to clinical trails. My company makes targeted ADC's ( Antibody drug conjugates) and a diagnostic technique is part of the approval process.

Timeline is shorter than trying to invent and validate a drug.

The Glypican family is being heavily investigated and there may be some crowding in the area of proprietary antibodies. I am not sure MDA is in the business of developing things like this out to approvals. They may partner out or sell the IP to a commercial company and get royalty or timeline payments. They may have been doing this work in partnership for/with an unnamed Pharma who is interested in the GPC1 target.