A new analysis found a possible role for fecal microbiota as potential biomarkers for early pancreatic cancer detection.
To explore the ways in which these microorganisms may be useful for potential early cancer detection, a research team led by Núria Malats, MD, from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), in Madrid, conducted a prospective study of stool and saliva samples from patients treated at two hospitals in Spain between 2016 and 2019. The patients were over 18 years of age and recently either were diagnosed with or suspected to have pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) but had not been treated (n=57) or had chronic pancreatitis (n=29). Fifty control samples, matched on age, sex and hospital, were collected from inpatients hospitalized for illness not related to PDAC.