One of the deadliest types of cancer in the US is pancreatic cancer. In a new study, two additional biomarkers were added to diagnose the disease before it could get worse.

One of the major reasons why pancreatic cancer cannot be diagnosed earlier because it does not produce any signs and symptoms. Often, warning signs are thought to be not serious at all. The most common symptoms associated with pancreatic cancer includes, the color of the eyes and skin turns yellow, frequent upper abdominal pain, weight loss, blood clots, and depression, according to WebMD.

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Professor of Translational Molecular Pathology, Anne Killary, and her colleagues identified gene clusters that involve in the migration of cancer, the proteins produced by the genes was analyzed. The tenascin C and TFPI became the strongest candidates to be a biomarker.

The predictive ability of these two was compared if they are present to those who have stage 4 pancreatic cancer and to healthy volunteers. The performance of the result improved and discriminates the stage I and II disease from healthy controls after deploying the isoform of tenascin-C (TNC-FN IIIC) and TFPI along with CA 19-9.

CA 19-9 is the current gold standard and only approved biomarker by U.S. Food and Drug Administration. By adding two new blood-borne proteins, the chance of predicting pancreatic cancer at an early stage will increase than the predictive ability of the current biomarker.

This could be a useful method in diagnosis especially those who develop the disease due to genetic mutation or at risk because of family history. At this moment, the result of the predictive test is not accurate to use in general public, however, they are close enough that leads the team to the right path.

This 2017, American Cancer Society estimates the case of pancreatic cancer in the US. 53,670 will likely be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, 27,970 cases of men, and 25,700 cases of women. In addition, the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the US is pancreatic cancer.