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PAC-MANN assay: a breakthrough in non-invasive early detection of pancreatic cancer

Published on February 26, 2026   10 min

A selection of talks on Oncology

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Interviewer: A promising new assay for the early detection of pancreatic cancer was recently featured in a paper published in Science Translational Medicine. Behind this publication is the research group led by Professor Jared Fischer at Oregon Health and Science University. Professor Fischer has kindly joined us today to discuss this groundbreaking discovery. Professor Fischer, thank you very much for your time. Dr. Fischer: Thank you for inviting me. I'm very excited to talk about this important breakthrough. Interviewer: Can you start by providing a bit of background on pancreatic cancer and the challenges associated with its diagnosis? Dr. Fischer: Pancreatic cancer is one of the most devastating diseases, with only a 3% survival rate when it is diagnosed at a later stage. But if we can find the pancreatic cancer early, at an earlier stage before it has spread throughout the body, then the survival rate is nearly 50%. It goes from 3% to 50%. The biggest problem of pancreatic cancer is that there's no screening method for it. It's typically found just accidentally from an unrelated medical condition, which then typically means it's found at a later stage. The early warning signs for pancreatic cancer are very vague, such as just pain in the abdomen, yellowing of the skin, fatigue, recent onset diabetes is one, rapid weight loss is another. These things could mean any number of things, not just pancreatic cancer. With no screening method, we are stuck just hoping that you can accidentally find it. That is why a lot of different groups, including our own, have been trying to develop a pancreatic screening method that we will get into exactly how that works. But this is why pancreatic cancer is so deadly,

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PAC-MANN assay: a breakthrough in non-invasive early detection of pancreatic cancer

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