Researchers have created a novel blood test to detect pancreatic cancer in its early stages, improving the chances for treatment before metastasis. This test, highlighted in Science Translational Medicine, leverages advances in technology to identify specific proteases in the blood, which are active even in the initial stages of cancer. Developed by a team from ETH Zurich and OHSU, the method involves nanosensors that release a fluorescent signal upon interaction with these tumor-associated enzymes, offering a promising approach to address the low survival rates linked with this typically asymptomatic cancer.
"It's a very pragmatic, really translatable solution," that builds on many advances in the field, says Simone Schürle-Finke, a biomedical engineer at ETH Zurich.
"There is a huge need for developing new ways of detecting pancreatic cancer early," says study co-author Jared Fischer, a molecular biologist at OHSU.
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