Every year, approximately 1,200-1,300 people in Sweden are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The disease is difficult to diagnose, often detected at an advanced stage, and poses the risk of becoming the second most common cause of cancer-related deaths. There has long been a lack of breakthroughs in pancreatic cancer research, but Roland Andersson and Daniel Ansari hope to change the course with a new method for early diagnosis.
"Our research aims to identify new diagnostic biomarkers, proteins that can be detected in both blood samples and cancer tissue," says Roland Andersson, a professor at Skåne University Hospital in Lund. "In the future, we hope to easily screen at-risk groups where traditional diagnostics with various types of imaging struggle to identify the disease."
"Pancreatic cancer can manifest in various ways, but with today's tumor markers, it is difficult to distinguish different variants. With our new method, we expect a much more specific identification, which, in turn, improves the possibilities for targeted and tumor-specific treatment," adds Roland Andersson.