The investigators, led by Dr. Brian Wolpin of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, discovered people with the lowest blood levels of a protein called IGFBP-1 were twice as likely to develop pancreatic cancer as those with higher levels.

Wolpin said although it has yet to be determined if the protein -- insulin-like growth factor binding protein-1 -- is a reliable pancreatic cancer risk indicator, the finding adds to the scientific understanding of how the disease develops.

The study included researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital, the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Applied Cancer Research in Vienna, the University of Washington School of Nursing, Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal.

The findings are reported in the journal Cancer Research.