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Our scientists at deCODEme follow the latest findings about the genetics of pancreatic cancer and turn them into meaningful risk estimates for you.

See what your genetic risk assessment for pancreatic cancer could look like.

Genetics lead the way in the search for new means of detecting pancreatic cancer early

Currently, there is no screening test available for pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer is a particularly difficult form of cancer. It is virtually asymptomatic in its earliest stages. The cancer typically spreads rapidly and aggressively into surrounding tissue and organs, is resistant to standard chemotherapy and has a strong tendency to recur. These characteristics make pancreatic cancer one of the most challenging cancers to treat and provide a grim prognosis for many diagnosed with the disease. Thus, scientists are continually seeking new ways to identify people at high risk and find ways to diagnose pancreatic cancer as early as possible.

Screening tests for pancreatic cancer are under study

An ideal pancreatic cancer screening test is one that is safe, inexpensive, and highly accurate and can reliably diagnose pancreas cancer at a stage when it has not started to cause symptoms nor spread. This would provide greater opportunities to treat and potentially cure the disease in many cases. Currently, however, there is no screening test for pancreatic cancer that even begins to meet these demands. Accordingly, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends against routine screening for pancreatic cancer in asymptomatic adults using palpation, ultrasound, or serologic markers such as the CA 19-9 test.

Genetic risk assessments for pancreatic cancer

Although there are no tests currently available that can be used to screen the general population for the most typical non-endocrine pancreatic cancer, scientists from all over the world are working on developing new methods for the early detection of people at high risk. Our scientists at deCODEme follow the latest findings about the genetics of pancreatic cancer from the scientific literature and select the most reliable results that provide meaningful risk estimates for you (see a sample risk assessment for pancreatic cancer here).

Pancreatic cancer in the limelight

Pancreatic cancer has recently been visible in the popular press, featuring in stories of several prominent public figures, including the late actor Patrick Swayze, who died of pancreatic cancer in September 2009, Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs, and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Although these recent press features may create a perception that pancreatic cancer is on the rise, the incidence of pancreatic cancer has on the contrary recently started to decline. Many experts think that this trend can be explained by a decrease in the rate of smoking. Currently, the lifetime risk of developing pancreatic cancer is about 1 in 74 (or 1.4%) for people in the United States.

More to explore about pancreatic cancer

For more information about pancreatic cancer, symptoms, diagnoses, and treatments, talk to your doctor or visit the following websites:

• About Pancreatic Cancer – The National Cancer Institute
• Analysis of mortality rates for pancreatic cancer across the world by D. Hariharan, A. Saied, and H. M. Kochehttp, in HPB, 2008; 10: 58-62.
• A Visual Guide to Understanding Pancreatic Cancer – from WebMd
• Confronting Pancreatic Cancer
• Pancreatic cancer FAQs from the Association for International Cancer Research
• Pancreatic Cancer Research – Cancer Research UK
• Research Presentations about Pancreatic Cancer# – Johns Hopkins University
• What´s New in Pancreatic Cancer Research and Development – The American Cancer Society

scientific references

1. Amundadottir L, Kraft P, Stolzenberg-Solomon RZ, et al. Genome-wide association study identifies variants in the ABO locus associated with susceptibility to pancreatic cancer. Nature Genetics. 2009 Sep;41(9):986-90. Epub 2009 Aug 2.
2. Petersen GM, Amundadottir L, Fuchs CS, et al. A genome-wide association study identifies pancreatic cancer susceptibility loci on chromosomes 13q22.1, 1q32.1 and 5p15.33. Nature Genetics. 2010 Jan 24. [Epub ahead of print].
3. Wolpin BM, Kraft P, Gross M, et al. Pancreatic cancer risk and ABO blood group alleles: results from the pancreatic cancer cohort consortium. Cancer Research. 2010 Feb 1;70(3):1015-23. Epub 2010 Jan 26.

This content was last reviewed on February 18, 2010.

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