Biomarkers for early detection of pancreatic cancer – miRNAs as a potential diagnostic and therapeutic tool?

ABSTRACT

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the deadliest malignancies, with poor prognosis resulting mostly from late diagnosis. Surgery remains the most effective treatment and early detection significantly increases the overall survival. Biomarkers used for diagnosis and to monitor the response to treatment, such as carbohydrate antigen 19–9 (CA19-9) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), are not adequate as early detection markers of PDAC, partly due to low sensitivity/specificity. Therefore, new biomarkers for PDAC are critically needed. This review aims at recent advancements in the identification and characterization of new biomarkers, microRNAs, which might prove useful in the early detection of PDAC.

KEYWORDS:

• Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma
• early detection
• biomarkers
• miRNA

Acknowledgments

TM participates in the program “Doktorat wdrożeniowy” from the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.

Author contributions

AT, TM and JF provided the overall concept and framework of the manuscript; AT and TM researched and identified appropriate articles, and wrote the manuscript; AT, TM, EMP and JF revised the manuscript. All authors contributed to the writing of the manuscript and approved the final version.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the Medical University of Lodz (#503/1-156-04/503-11-001 to JF).