The marker is mesothelin, a protein normally found on mesothelial cells that line the body cavities. Several types of cancer cells make large amounts of mesothelin, which then circulates in the blood.
Mesothelin levels in the blood were shown in earlier studies to predict survival in patients with ovarian cancer and mesothelioma (a cancer of mesothelial cells). The researchers wanted to know if elevated blood levels of mesothelin could be used as a biological indicator for pancreatic disease. The study, published this month in Clinical Cancer Research, also examined whether the protein could be useful for immune-based cancer treatments.
“All pancreatic tumor specimens we tested displayed mesothelin on them, and the protein could be detected in the blood of 99 percent of our study patients with pancreatic cancer,” says co-senior author Peter Goedegebuure, Ph.D., research associate professor of surgery. “Other studies suggest that mesothelin plays an essential role in the development and growth of cancer, making it an ideal target for therapy.”
» Read more: Pancreatic Tumors Are Marked for Immunotherapy