Pancreatic cancer

Clinical need

Pancreatic cancer is a disease in which malignant (cancer) cells appear in the pancreas.

Symptoms of pancreatic cancer appear late, and the disease often goes undetected until it is no longer resectable by surgical procedures. Because of this, the survival rate 5 years from diagnosis is only about 5%, making pancreatic cancer the third deadliest form of cancer. A test for the early detection of pancreatic cancer (stage I and II) when more effective treatment is available has the potential to dramatically increase patient survival rates.

Such a test would be able to address several unmet clinical needs:

1. Screening of high-risk groups i.e. familial/hereditary pancreatic cancer
2. Testing of new onset diabetes type II patients over 50 years who suffer a 6-8 times increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer within 1-3 years
3. Testing of patients with vague symptom profiles where the clinicans suspects, or wants to rule out, pancreatic cancer

Early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer based on the IMMray™ platform

Immunovia is currently developing a blood test called IMMray™ PanCan-d based on the IMMray™ platform for the early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, with a focus on early stages (stage I and II).

IMMray™ PanCan-d can be performed, using a regular blood sample, on risk groups within familiar pancreatic cancer, new onset diabetes type II patients over 50 years and selected patients with vague symptoms profiles in combination with other risk factors.

Current status

• Our retrospective studies show that the test is able to detect stage I and stage II pancreatic cancer with 96% accuracy
• Undergoing prospective validation for hereditary risk group in the clinical study called PanFAM-1
• Undergoing prospective validation for new onset diabetes type II over 50 years of age in the clinical study called PanDIA-1
• Under evaluation for the patients with vague symptoms profiles in the clinical study called PanSYM-1

References:

1. Pancreatic registry in Japan – 20 years of experience, 2004.
2. Ingvarsson J et al.Proteomics 2008 8(11):2211-9.
3. Wingren et al. Cancer Res. 2012 15;72(10):2481-90.
4. Gerdtsson et al. Int Journal of Proteomics 2015;2015:587250.
5. Gerdtsson et al. J Mol Oncol, 2016. 10, 1305-1316.
6. Mellby et al. Serum biomarker signature-based liquid biopsy for diagnosis of early-stage pancreatic cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2018 Aug 14. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2017.77.6658.