A highly sensitive blood test detected traces of pancreatic cancer that standard testing missed in the majority of patients studied, according to a study published in Clinical Cancer Research.
The study adds to a growing body of recent KRAS-focused pancreatic cancer innovation.
After researchers shared findings that the drug daraxonrasib — a KRAS inhibitor — outperformed chemotherapy in both overall and progression-free survival among pancreatic cancer patients, and the FDA granted expanded access, health systems experienced an uptake in patient demand for the drug.
A study led by researchers from Baltimore-based Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University found that a pancreatic cancer vaccine produced immune responses that remained detectable for up to two years post-vaccination.
Researchers from Chicago-based Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine followed 106 patients with localized pancreatic cancer from diagnosis through chemotherapy and surgery, comparing a highly sensitive blood test called digital droplet PCR against standard sequencing. Both tests searched for traces of tumor DNA in the blood tied to KRAS, a mutation that drives more than 90% of pancreatic cancers.
Here are five notes from the study:
- At diagnosis, digital droplet PCR detected tumor DNA in 65% of patients, compared with 17% for standard sequencing.
- After chemotherapy, digital droplet PCR detected tumor DNA in 60% of patients, compared with 5% for standard sequencing.
- After surgery, digital droplet PCR detected tumor DNA in 56% of patients, compared with 9% for standard sequencing.
- Patients who tested positive on both tests survived a median of 11 months, compared with 41 months for those who tested negative on both and 27 months for those missed by standard sequencing but caught by digital droplet PCR.
- “As we enter the era of KRAS-targeted therapies, having a screening tool that tracks the same mutation becomes increasingly important,” senior author Akhil Chawla, MD, said in a July 21 news release from Northwestern Medicine.
Read the full study here.
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