Open Access News Cancer Research News First ever early pancreatic cancer diagnosis August 12, 2024 image: ©koto_feja | iStock Researchers have unveiled a pioneering method that could revolutionise the early detection of pancreatic cancer, a disease known for its late diagnosis and low survival rates Published in the journal Angewandte Chemie, the study introduces a new approach based on detecting specific antibodies in blood samples, offering hope for more precise and reliable screening. Earlier detection of pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer often evades early detection due to the lack of sensitive and specific markers. However, a multinational team led by scientists from the University of Verona, Italy, and the Center for Biomedical Research of La Rioja, Spain, has developed a technique targeting tumor-associated autoantibodies.
These autoantibodies, which the immune system produces in response to tumour-associated antigens like mucin-1 (TA-MUC1), circulate in the bloodstream even at the early stages of cancer development. Mucin-1 is a protein found in elevated levels in various cancers, including pancreatic cancer, and its altered glycosylation pattern makes it a prime target for early detection efforts. The researchers designed synthetic glycopeptides that mimic specific segments (epitopes) of TA-MUC1, using structural analyses and computer simulations of known antibodies.
These glycopeptides were then immobilised on gold nanoparticles to create probes suitable for a se.