Abstract

<div>Abstract<p><b>Purpose:</b> Identification of serum biomarkers enabling earlier diagnosis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) could improve outcome. Serum protein profiles in patients with preclinical disease and at diagnosis were investigated.</p><p><b>Experimental Design:</b> Serum from cases up to 4 years prior to PDAC diagnosis and controls (UKCTOCS, <i>n</i> = 174) were studied, alongside samples from patients diagnosed with PDAC, chronic pancreatitis, benign biliary disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and healthy subjects (<i>n</i> = 298). Isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ) enabled comparisons of pooled serum from a test set (<i>n</i> = 150). Validation was undertaken using multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) and/or Western blotting in all 472 human samples and samples from a KPC mouse model.</p><p><b>Results:</b> iTRAQ identified thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1) as reduced preclinically and in diagnosed samples. MRM confirmed significant reduction in levels of TSP-1 up to 24 months prior to diagnosis. A combination of TSP-1 and CA19-9 gave an AUC of 0.86, significantly outperforming both markers alone (0.69 and 0.77, respectively; <i>P</i> < 0.01). TSP-1 was also decreased in PDAC patients compared with healthy controls (<i>P</i> < 0.05) and patients with benign biliary obstruction (<i>P</i> < 0.01). Low levels of TSP-1 correlated with poorer survival, preclinically (<i>P</i> < 0.05) and at clinical diagnosis (<i>P</i> < 0.02). In PDAC patients, reduced TSP-1 levels were more frequently observed in those with confirmed diabetes mellitus (<i>P</i> < 0.01). Significantly lower levels were also observed in PDAC patients with diabetes compared with individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus (<i>P</i> = 0.01).</p><p><b>Conclusions:</b> Circulating TSP-1 levels decrease up to 24 months prior to diagnosis of PDAC and significantly enhance the diagnostic performance of CA19-9. The influence of diabetes mellitus on biomarker behavior should be considered in future studies. <i>Clin Cancer Res; 22(7); 1734–43. ©2015 AACR</i>.</p></div>

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