Medical researchers identified a surge in amino acids that occurs before symptoms of pancreatic cancer set in.
The change is too small to be used as an early screening method, but could help researchers better-understand how the disease affects the rest of the body and even triggers a muscle-wasting condition called cachexia, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute reported.
"Most people with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) [by far the most common form of pancreatic cancer] are diagnosed after the disease has reached an advanced stage, and many die within a year of diagnosis," said co-senior study author Dr. Brian Wolpin, of Dana-Farber. "Detecting the disease earlier in its development may improve our ability to treat it successfully. In this study, we asked whether PDAC produces metabolic changes - changes in the way the body uses energy and nutrients - that can be detected before the disease is diagnosed."
To make their findings the researchers looked at blood samples from 1,500 past patients and analyzed the presence of more than 100 metabolites (substances produced by the metabolic process). The team identified a higher number of branched chain amino acids in people who later developed pancreatic cancer.
"These findings led us to hypothesize that the increase in branched chain amino acids is due to the presence of an early pancreatic tumor," Wolpin said.
The researchers believe this change is linked to a breakdown of muscle tissues which allows the branched amino acids to be released into the bloodstream. The findings show muscle protein begins to break down earlier on in the disease's development than was previously believed. The work provides insight into how pancreatic cancer changes the body reacts to certain nutrients.
"This work has the potential to spur progress in detecting pancreatic tumors earlier and identifying new treatment strategies for those with the disease," said co-author Dr. Matthew Vander Heiden of MIT and Dana-Farber.
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Nature Medicine.
