High sensitive mutation analysis to identify early-stage pancreatic cancer

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26670613
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Digestive surgery
• Research Institution: National Cancer Center Japan
• Principal Investigator: Yachida Shinichi 国立研究開発法人国立がん研究センター, 研究所がんゲノミクス研究分野, ユニット長 (20359920)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 膵臓がん

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains one of the most lethal malignancies. It is known that >90% of PDAC harbor mutations in the KRAS gene as founder mutations. Circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) is a promising resource to detect and monitor molecular characteristics of tumors. In the present study, we determined the mutational status of KRAS in plasma cfDNA using multiplex picoliter-droplet digital PCR in 259 patients with PDAC. Two hundred and fifty-nine PDAC patients were involved in this study. Among 151 inoperable patients, mutant KRAS was detected in 63 of 107 (58.9%) PDAC patients with distant organ metastasis. The presence of ctDNA was significantly (P < 0.0001) associated with the presence of distant organ metastasis. Mutated KRAS genes could not be detected in the early stage of PDAC, so it would be premature to recommend the current protocol for screening to detect early-stage PDAC.

Free Research Field

がんゲノミクス