Sensitive and quantitative detection of KRAS2 gene mutations in pancreatic duct juice differentiates patients with pancreatic cancer from chronic pancreatitis, potential for early detection.

KRAS2 gene mutations are found in 75-90% of infiltrating pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas but can also be present with other nonneoplastic pancreatic diseases. We recently developed a novel sensitive assay for point mutation detection, called "LigAmp", which can detect one mutant molecule in the presence of 10,000 wild-type molecules and can quantify mutant DNA over a wide dynamic range. We analyzed KRAS2 mutations in surgically-collected pancreatic duct juice samples from patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma (n = 27) and chronic pancreatitis(n = 9).