title: Biomarkers in the diagnosis and early detection of pancreatic cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Pancreatic cancer, owing to its raising incidence and aggressiveness, is a major challenge, both for research and for clinical management. As pancreatic cancer has a complex pathophysiology, in addition to improving the methods of early diagnosis, sensitive and specific biomarkers are a prerequisite.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  As there is no specific tumor marker for pancreatic cancer diagnosis, extensive genomics/transcriptomics and proteomics studies have been developed with the aim of finding candidate markers and contributing to high-throughput systems for large cohort screening.
  
  
  METHODS
  A literature review was done to study these biomarkers in relation to diagnosis, prognosis and therapy targets in pancreatic cancer.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  For early diagnosis improvement, only a panel of soluble biomarkers could provide the appropriate combination between high sensitivity and specificity. Prognostic upgrading would benefit from biomarker discovery and validation performed on tumor tissue. New technology could delineate molecular targets for innovative therapy in pancreatic cancer.
authors.affiliation: 'VICTOR BABES' National Institute of Pathology, 99-101 Splaiul Independentei, Bucharest, Romania +4021 319 45 28 ; +4021 319 45 28 ; bioch@vbabes.ro.
authors.forename: Cristiana Pistol
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Tanase
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Neagu
authors.forename: Radu
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Albulescu
authors.forename: Eleonora
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Codorean
authors.forename: Simona Olimpia
authors.initials: SO
authors.lastname: Dima