Urine test may detect early-stage pancreatic cancer

London, August 3: A combition of three proteins found at high levels in urine can accurately detect early-stage pancreatic cancer, new research has found. The discovery could lead to a non-invasive, inexpensive test to screen people at high risk of developing the disease. “For a cancer with no early stage symptoms, it is a huge challenge to diagnose pancreatic cancer sooner, but if we can, then we can make a big difference to survival rates,” said study co-author Nick Lemoine, director of Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London. Although there is no universal cause of pancreatic cancer, people at higher risk of developing the disease include those with a family history of pancreatic cancer, heavy smokers, the obese and people over 50 years with new-onset diabetes. The new test could also distinguish between this cancer and the inflammatory condition chronic pancreatitis. The study looked at 488 urine samples: 192 from patients known to have pancreatic cancer, 92 from patients with chronic pancreatitis and 87 from healthy volunteers. A further 117 samples from patients with other benign and malignt liver and gall bladder conditions were used for further validation.  (IANS)