PHILADELPHIA, January 30, 2026, 14:23 (EST)
- NIH-backed researchers added two proteins to an existing blood-marker approach to improve pancreatic cancer detection in stored samples
- The four-marker panel identified 91.9% of cancers across stages and 87.5% of early-stage cases at a 5% false-positive rate
- Researchers said larger, forward-looking studies are needed before any screening use
A four-protein blood test panel improved the ability to pick up pancreatic cancer in stored samples, National Institutes of Health said on Friday, raising hopes it could one day help spot the disease earlier in people at risk. The panel identified 91.9% of pancreatic cancer cases across all stages and 87.5% of early-stage cases, with a 5% false-positive rate in people without cancer, the agency said. “We’ve significantly improved our ability to detect this cancer when it’s most treatable,” said Kenneth S. Zaret of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. (National Institutes of Health (NIH))
The timing matters because pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, or PDAC — the most common form of pancreatic cancer — is often found late, when doctors have fewer options. Five-year survival is about 44% when the disease is caught early and still local, but it drops to about 3% after it spreads, Penn Medicine said. “Pancreatic cancer usually doesn’t present with symptoms until it’s too late for surgery,” Zaret said. (Penn Medicine)
There is no routine screening program for pancreatic cancer in average-risk adults, and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends against screening people without symptoms. The panel’s guidance cites the risk of harm from false positives and follow-up procedures, and notes there are no accurate, validated blood biomarkers for early detection. (Uspreventiveservicestaskforce)
In the study, researchers compared protein levels in stored plasma from patients with PDAC and people without cancer, drawing on patient groups from Mayo Clinic and Penn, according to the American Association for Cancer Research. They identified two proteins — ANPEP and PIGR — that were higher in early-stage cases, then combined them with the better-known markers CA19-9 and THBS2. The four-marker panel posted AUC scores of 0.97 and 0.96 for distinguishing stage I–II disease from healthy controls, and outperformed CA19-9 alone, though the early-stage gain did not reach statistical significance; Zaret said the added markers “could therefore reduce the number of missed cancer cases while keeping false positives low.” (AACR)
A biomarker panel is a set of biological signals — here, proteins measured in blood — that aims to flag disease more reliably than any single marker. AUC, short for “area under the curve,” is a standard way to summarize how well a test separates two groups; 1.0 is perfect separation.
The researchers framed the blood panel as a potential “first pass” tool, the kind of test that could steer who gets follow-up scans rather than replace imaging or diagnosis. For a cancer that often hides until it spreads, even a modest shift toward earlier detection would change how many patients reach surgery.
But the work is still a long way from a screening test. The analysis looked back at banked samples, not blood drawn from symptom-free people and tracked over time, and the study groups did not mirror the mix of patients who show up in real-world surveillance programs. Any blood screen also risks sending some people into unnecessary imaging and invasive follow-up.
Zaret and colleagues pointed to prospective studies — trials that follow people forward in time and collect samples before diagnosis — as the next step to see whether the signal holds up outside retrospective datasets. They also said testing in larger populations, including those at higher risk, would be needed to judge whether the approach can work as a practical screen.
For now, CA19-9 remains a tool mainly used to monitor known disease, not to find it, and clinicians still rely on symptoms and imaging when they appear. The new panel adds to a growing push to make pancreatic cancer less of a late-stage surprise, but the hard part is proving it can spot trouble early without causing more harm than help.
