Intercept pancreatic cancer with multimodal approaches

Pancreatic cancer is estimated to be the third-leading cause of cancer-related death in Europe in 2024. Its dismal survival is largely due to late diagnosis in 80%-85% of patients. Strategies to promote early detection of sporadic cancers in the general population are greatly needed.

Leveraging unique Swedish national registries, clinical biobanks, large prospective cohorts, and electronic health records, this program aims to 1) calculate a familial risk score for pancreatic cancer by examining the association of pancreatic cancer with a family history of 22 individual cancer types.; 2) develop an early diagnosis biomarker panel by interrogating mucin family proteins on circulating extracellular vesicles and validating in pre-diagnostic setting; 3) evaluate whether changes in recent nutrition status, lipid metabolism, and liver function predict pancreatic cancer diagnosis in the next year.

During 2025-2028, the applicant will actively lead this program and establish a multidisciplinary team across cancer epidemiology, gastrointestinal oncology, genetics, and molecular epidemiology.

This program will generate novel risk assessment tools in general population, offer fresh insights into disease mechanisms, and flag high-risk individuals in practice for surveillance.

This initiative will facilitate precision diagnostics by pooling multimodal approaches for early detection and optimizing Nordic resources for pancreatic cancer research.