Markers for Pancreatic Cancer and Cell Growth
Description: Pancreatic cancer has one of the highest mortality rates of any malignancy, and the 5-year-survival rate of patients is 4%. Approximately 28,000 patients with pancreatic cancer are diagnosed each year, and nearly all of these patients will die of their disease. The poor prognosis of this malignancy is a result of the difficulty of early diagnosis and poor response to current therapeutic methods. In particular, no tumor markers are currently identified that allow reliable screening at an early, potentially curable stage of the disease. Because the molecular basis underlying the pathogenesis of pancreatic adenocarcinomas remain largely unknown, the disease has an extremely poor prognosis and lacks early diagnostic and therapeutic modalities. The invention is based on the discovery that two proteins expressed in the pancreas may be correlated to risk of pancreatic cancer. These proteins are known to be down-regulated in certain other cancer types, but it was not previously known that either protein is down-regulated in pancreatic cancer. Clinical & Commercial Utility: The invention features methods of diagnosing pancreatic cancer, or the risk of developing pancreatic cancer, by detecting the levels of one or both of the biomarkers: lower levels of the protein would be indicative of increased risk. These markers are also expected to be useful in distinguishing pancreatic cancer from gastric cancer. In addition, these proteins are potential targets for therapeutic intervention against pancreatic cancer, in that agents that enhance their expression might be useful to treat cancer, and may also be useful markers or targets for other diseases relating to pancreatic growth and function.A U.S. patent application claiming this invention has been filed.
Type of Offer: Licensing
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