Discovery of Soluble Biomarkers for Pancreatic Cancer Using Innovative All-Patient Inclusive Methodology

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains among cancers with a very poor prognosis (1-year survival \<20%). Endoscopic ultrasound with fine needle aspiration (EUS/FNA) is the common examination for all patients with suspicious pancreatic mass. A method was recently developed : it preserves the sanitary sample, named EXPEL, which allows standard pathology examination and OMICS analyzes from the "rinse" liquid. After EUS/FNA in clinical practice, the content of the needle is rinsed in CytoLyt® preservative solution. After cytofiltration, this liquid is systematically discarded.

Based on the EXPEL concept, we hypothesise that this all-patients inclusive approach ("Modified EXPEL" procedure) combined with the methodology to access proteomic and metabolomics information in these original samples will allow us to identify a series of clinically useful marker signatures that will ultimately be measurable, non-invasively, in the patient blood.