CTC in pancreatic cancer

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Feasibility study of detection of circulating tumour cells (CTC) and circulating mRNA in patients with pancreatic cancer as a means of earlier diagnosis

• IRAS ID

  157607

• Contact name

  Andrew Gilliam

• Contact email

  Andrew.Gilliam@cddft.nhs.uk;Andrew.Mitchell@cddft.nhs.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  Astrimmune

• Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier

  N/A, N/A

• Research summary

  Can we detect pancreatic cancer sooner with a blood test? Pancreatic cancer (PC) patients can have the disease for more than ten years before they have symptoms and are diagnosed. At this point, it is often too late to treat the patients and they die within a few months of diagnosis. This study aims to find out if we can detect tumour cells in the blood of PC patients. The blood from patients without any cancer will also be tested and compared as a control. The test is currently being developed. The test should be able to show if the tumour cells are PC cells and give an idea of how many of these cells there are. About 160 blood samples will be taken from patients at Darlington hospital in Darlington, St. James hospital in Leeds and Nuffield Department of Medicine in Oxford. Patients will need to sign a consent form. They will give details of their diagnosis and of the medicines that they are taking. No more contact with the patients is needed and their personal data will not be shared with the researchers. The blood will then be tested at the University of Bradford. If it works, it should allow development of a test to diagnose pancreatic cancer earlier. More patients could then have treatment and be able to live longer. The study will last four months.

• REC name

  South Central - Berkshire B Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  14/SC/1028

• Date of REC Opinion

  29 May 2014

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion