In 2008 an estimated 37,680 people will be diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer in the United States. (Jemal et al. CA Cancer J Clin 58: 71-96, 2008). At the time of diagnosis, 80% of patients have locally advanced or advanced disease. Currently, there is no therapy that can offer a cure for this deadly disease.

There are many reasons why pancreatic cancer is such an aggressive and dismal disease, yet the reasons are not commonly well known. Some risk factors associated with a higher incidence of pancreatic cancer include smoking, genetic syndromes, diabetes and a family history of pancreatic cancer. However, the majority of patients affected by pancreatic cancer do not have any of these known risk factors. Because symptoms of pancreatic cancer are difficult to spot, many pancreatic cancer patients are diagnosed at a late stage in the disease when the possibility for cure is very small. Also, after treatment, patients often have the cancer come back. Pancreatic cancer is extremely resistant to existing treatments. Pancreatic cancer research is urgently needed.

The ultimate cure of this disease will develop through the integration of multiple researcher efforts and strategies. There is no reliable marker for the detection of early pancreatic cancer. Clearly, the potential discovery of biomarkers associated with early disease will increase the success of early diagnosis, preventative and possibly curative treatments. The discovery of early recurrence biomarkers could facilitate the implementation of innovative early therapies, when the likelihood of success is higher.

There is also no reliable serum marker to use for follow up of patients who are in treatment or one that can discriminate between patients with differences in response and survival. For patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, the discovery of novel molecular alterations present in pancreatic cancer cells will enable the discovery and development of novel drugs and therapeutic strategies to combat the disease.

The Pancreatic Cancer Research Team (PCRT) is a not-for-profit organization whose goals are to improve the prognosis and quality of life of patients with pancreatic cancer, and ultimately to eradicate and cure pancreatic cancer. It is an international collaborative organization formed by several world renowned institutions and researchers [link to bios and pictures]. PCRT conducts clinical trials in patients with pancreatic cancer, translating genomics research into prevention, diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer. The center point of PCRT's effort is the creation of a multi-center Serum and DNA Repository for the discovery of biomarkers for this disease.

The PCRT has developed a research protocol designed to collect blood from people with pancreatic cancer, pancreatitis, liver disease, and from healthy and at-risk volunteers in order to identify biomarkers for early diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer. The blood will be stored in a central repository or bank as a resource for current and future scientific studies. Scientists will look for novel biomarkers for early diagnosis, disease stage, natural history of the disease, response to treatment and to identify possible therapeutic interventions.