Pancreatic tumor marker found

ST. LOUIS, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Washington University School of Medicine researchers say they have discovered pancreatic tumors can be identified by a readily detectable marker.

The marker -- mesothelin -- is a protein normally found on mesothelial cells that line the body cavities. Several types of cancer cells make large amounts of mesothelin, which then circulates in the blood. The scientists said the marker shows promise as a basis for immune therapy against the disease.

Mesothelin levels in the blood were shown in earlier studies to predict survival in patients with ovarian cancer and mesothelioma -- a cancer of mesothelial cells.

The researchers wanted to know if elevated blood levels of mesothelin could be used as a biological indicator for pancreatic disease.

"All pancreatic tumor specimens we tested displayed mesothelin on them, and the protein could be detected in the blood of 99 percent of our study patients with pancreatic cancer," said Associate Professor Peter Goedegebuure, the study's co-senior author with Dr. William Hawkins, a pancreatic cancer surgeon at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University in St. Louis. "Other studies suggest that mesothelin plays an essential role in the development and growth of cancer, making it an ideal target for therapy."

The study appears in the journal Clinical Cancer Research.