Today, researchers from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center announced that they have found a protein which allows them to tell pancreatic cancer from normal tissue better than the current "gold standard" blood test used nationwide. They believe this protein, called CEACAM 1, could be used to detect early signs of cancer, especially in those patients at highest risk for the disease.

Yesterday, the same team reported new findings about the basic cellular processes that allow pancreatic cancer to develop. The discovery of "crosstalk" between two cell signaling pathways involved in the disease may yield clues as to why pancreatic tumors develop, and perhaps one day lead to innovative ways to stop them.

Also today, the U-M researchers reported initial results from gene-based efforts to tell pancreatic cancer from its more common imposter: chronic inflammation of the pancreas, or pancreatitis. By looking at expression levels for three genes in tiny tissue samples removed from patients through a slender needle, they were able to distinguish the two conditions. More research is needed, but the technique could lead to new ways of telling pancreatitis from cancer without the need for surgery.

All three announcements were made at the Digestive Diseases Week meeting here.

"We're definitely getting closer to the kinds of innovation that will be needed to increase patients' odds of finding and surviving pancreatic cancer," says Diane Simeone, M.D., whose laboratory team made the cell signaling discovery and who co-leads the U-M effort to translate basic genetic researc
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Contact: Kara Gavin
kegavin@umich.edu
734-764-2220
University of Michigan Health System
19-May-2004