Four-marker blood test shows promise for early pancreatic cancer detection
A NIH-backed study reports a four-marker blood test—CA19-9, THBS2, ANPEP, and PIGR—that accurately detects pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, including early-stage disease, with 91.9% overall accuracy at a 5% false-positive rate and 87.5% sensitivity for stage I/II cancers; the test also differentiates cancer from pancreatitis and could enable screening for high-risk groups, though larger prediagnostic studies are needed.