Cancer of the Pancreas Screening Study (CAPS 3)

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is the 4th leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. Because it is seldom diagnosed at an early curable stage, nearly all patients die from their disease. Early detection of PC and its precursors will save lives. In a multi-center, translational prospective controlled cohort study, we propose to screen high-risk individuals (members of familial pancreatic cancer kindreds and/or those with germline mutations of BRCA-2, p16, or STK-11), using EUS, CT, and MRI and test a panel of candidate biomarkers. Patients with suspected neoplasms will be offered surgery and the resected pancreata will be examined by an expert pathologist. Pathological results will be compared with radiologic findings and biomarker results. Our study hypothesis is that screening tests can detect early curable non-invasive pancreatic neoplasia in high risk individuals before it progresses to invasive cancer. The primary specific aim of this study is to determine the frequency of detectable pancreatic neoplasia in individuals with an inherited predisposition for pancreatic cancer. Our additional specific aims are: 1) To test the value of a newly-developed method (PANCPRO) of calculating the risk families have of developing PC so as to best target who might benefit from screening; 2a). To compare performance characteristics and reliability of the pancreatic imaging tests EUS, CT, and MRI/MRCP for the detection of early pancreatic neoplasia; 2b) To determine the prevalence of abdominal and pelvic tumors by CT and MRI in individuals carrying a germ-line BRCA2 gene mutation and patients with Peutz-Jeghers syndrome; 2c) To correlate radiologic abnormalities with histologic findings in resected pancreata; and 3). To validate a panel of candidate DNA and protein markers (CA19-9, macrophage inhibitory cytokine-1 (MIC-1), DNA hypermethylation, and KRAS gene mutations) in pancreatic juice and serum as indicators of prevalent neoplasms in high risk individuals, compared to concurrently enrolled controls.