Western Connecticut Health Network (WCHN) has announced the launch of a $2.7 million, three-year research study to investigate the link between new-onset diabetes and pancreatic cancer — with the main goal being to detect the often lethal cancer at a curable stage.
Pancreatic cancer has five-year survival rates of 8 percent and could become the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. by 2020, WCHN said.
The study was developed by a team of WCHN physicians and researchers, led by Dr. Richard Frank, director of clinical cancer research. It emerged from an increasing appreciation of the link between diabetes and pancreatic cancer in those over 50, Frank said. Diabetes diagnosed within the past year is estimated to carry a seven-fold increased risk of the cancer in the first three years after diabetes diagnosis.
“This gives us the opportunity to attempt to detect pancreatic cancer at a very early stage,” Frank said.
It’s estimated that fewer than 1 percent of people with new-onset diabetes will develop pancreatic cancer, but there’s strong enthusiasm for the study, WCHN said.
“We need to start somewhere,” said Dr. Steven Brandwein, a study co-investigator and WCHN gastroenterologist, noting study collaboration among WCHN primary care physician groups, as well as specialists in endocrinology, radiology, gastroenterology, pathology and surgery.
Study participants will undergo annual MRIs of the pancreas for three years, per a specific MRI protocol. Suspicious lesions will be further investigated by a gastroenterologist using a special type of ultrasound (called EUS or endoscopic ultrasound) for the presence of cancer or pre-cancerous changes. Participants also will donate a blood sample every six months in order to create a serum biobank that may contain the earliest clues of pancreatic cancer at the DNA level, WCHN said. Since a blood test would be the optimal way to screen for pancreatic cancer, WCHN researchers will use the blood samples to identify a biomarker that does not currently exist.
The study is made possible by philanthropic support, including from the James Naughton family.
