Exosomal glypican-1 discriminates pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma from chronic pancreatitis

Dig Liver Dis. 2022 Jul;54(7):871-877. doi: 10.1016/j.dld.2021.10.012. Epub 2021 Nov 25.

Abstract

Background and aims: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) diagnosis can be difficult in a chronic pancreatitis (CP) background, especially in its mass forming presentation. We aimed to assess the accuracy of glypican-1-positive circulating exosomes (GPC1+crExos) to distinguish PDAC from CP versus the state-of-the-art CA 19-9 biomarker.

Methods: This was a unicentric prospective cohort. Endoscopic ultrasound with fine-needle aspiration or biopsy and blood tests (GPC1+crExos and serum CA 19-9) were performed.

Results: The cohort comprised 60 PDAC and 29 CP (7 of which mass forming - MF) patients. Median levels of GPC1+crExos were significantly higher in PDAC (99.7%) versus CP (28.4%; p<0.0001) with an AUROC of 0.96 with 98.3% sensitivity and 86.2% specificity for a cut-off of 45.0% (p<0.0001); this outperforms CA 19-9 AUROC of 0.82 with 78.3% sensitivity and 65.5% specificity at a cut-off of 37 U/mL (p<0.0001). The superiority of% GPC1+crExos over CA 19-99 in differentiating PDAC from CP was observed in both early (stage I) and advanced tumors (stages II-IV).

Conclusion: Levels of GPC1+crExos coupled to beads enable differential diagnosis between PDAC and CP including its mass-forming presentation.

Keywords: CA 19.9; Chronic pancreatitis; Endoscopic ultrasound; Glypican-1; Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

MeSH terms

  • Biomarkers, Tumor
  • CA-19-9 Antigen
  • Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal* / diagnosis
  • Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal* / pathology
  • Diagnosis, Differential
  • Glypicans
  • Humans
  • Pancreatic Neoplasms* / diagnosis
  • Pancreatic Neoplasms* / pathology
  • Pancreatitis, Chronic* / diagnosis
  • Prospective Studies

Substances

  • Biomarkers, Tumor
  • CA-19-9 Antigen
  • Glypicans