Myriad to investigate pancreatic cancer diagnostic

Salt Lake City, Utah, USA-based Myriad Genetics says it will provide the genetic testing component of a new clinical trial in patients with pancreatic cancer being run by researchers at Johns Hopkins University.

The trial will enroll patients with previously untreated, advanced or recurrent pancreatic cancer and a mutation in the BRCA2 gene, which confers greatly increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer in addition to a substantial increase in pancreatic cancer risk.

Previous studies showed that pancreatic tumors from patients with a BRCA2 mutation were approximately 1,000 times more sensitive to mitomycin-C than were those from subjects without the BRCA2 mutation. If this study confirms these data, then a diagnostic test to determine the BRCA2 status of the pancreatic cancer patients may be indicated to determine the appropriate chemotherapy prior to initiating treatment in pancreatic cancer, Myriad noted.