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Review
. 2024 Dec 13;12(12):2840.
doi: 10.3390/biomedicines12122840.

The Past, Present, and Future of Biomarkers for the Early Diagnosis of Pancreatic Cancer

Federica Vitale  1 , Lorenzo Zileri Dal Verme  1 , Mattia Paratore  1 , Marcantonio Negri  1 , Enrico Celestino Nista  1 , Maria Elena Ainora  1 , Giorgio Esposto  1 , Irene Mignini  1 , Raffaele Borriello  1 , Linda Galasso  1 , Sergio Alfieri  2 , Antonio Gasbarrini  1 , Maria Assunta Zocco  1 , Alberto Nicoletti  1
Affiliations
Review

The Past, Present, and Future of Biomarkers for the Early Diagnosis of Pancreatic Cancer

Federica Vitale et al. Biomedicines. .

Abstract

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive cancers with a very poor 5-year survival rate and reduced therapeutic options when diagnosed in an advanced stage. The dismal prognosis of pancreatic cancer has guided significant efforts to discover novel biomarkers in order to anticipate diagnosis, increasing the population of patients who can benefit from curative surgical treatment. CA 19-9 is the reference biomarker that supports the diagnosis and guides the response to treatments. However, it has significant limitations, a low specificity, and is inefficient as a screening tool. Several potential biomarkers have been discovered in the serum, urine, feces, and pancreatic juice of patients. However, most of this evidence needs further validation in larger cohorts. The advent of advanced omics sciences and liquid biopsy techniques has further enhanced this field of research. The aim of this review is to analyze the historical evolution of the research on novel biomarkers for the early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, focusing on the current evidence for the most promising biomarkers from different body fluids and the novel trends in research, such as omics sciences and liquid biopsy, in order to favor the application of modern personalized medicine.

Keywords: CA 19-9; biomarkers; liquid biopsy; omics sciences; pancreatic cancer; personalized medicine.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The past, present, and future of biomarkers of pancreatic cancer.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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