UNMC pancreas research addresses early disease detection

There are currently limited early-detection tests available for pancreas cancer as compared to tests available for other cancers. Treatment options are also limited due to the typically late diagnosis, and surgery to remove the cancer is only available to less than 20 percent of diagnosed adenocarcinoma patients, Grandgenett said.

Due to the low percentage of patients diagnosed early enough for surgical removal, he said the availability of tissue for research is limited. Collection from donors with disease and with no detectable disease is essential to the study of cancer progression.

“Collection of samples from Live On Nebraska donors serves to provide control tissues for studies,” Grandgenett said. “(With this unique resource) we are attempting to isolate early disease lesions. Collection of these samples will provide researchers at UNMC and other institutions invaluable tools in their study of pancreas cancer.”

The goal of the studies is to better the basic understanding about how cancer acts in comparison to non-diseased tissue to eventually help cancer patients, specifically by comparing how disease progression occurs in normal and diseased tissues.

“The effort to study pancreatic disease requires a team dedicated to the collection of tissues from not only pancreatic cancer patients but also the generous Live On Nebraska donors,” Grandgenett said. “This team of volunteers includes a core group of researchers and medical personnel that make themselves available at all times for these important collections. Recognition of the unique and critical nature of these samples for studies at UNMC and at other institutions throughout the U.S. drives all involved to continue to build this resource for current and future generations.”