Differentiating Ductal Adenocarcinoma of the Pancreas from Benign Conditions Using Routine Health Records: A Prospective Case-Control Study.

The study aimed to develop a prediction model for differentiating suspected PDAC from benign conditions. We used a prospective cohort of patients with pancreatic disease ( = 762) enrolled at the Barts Pancreas Tissue Bank (2008-2021) and performed a case-control study examining the association of PDAC ( = 340) with predictor variables including demographics, comorbidities, lifestyle factors, presenting symptoms and commonly performed blood tests. Age (over 55), weight loss in hypertensive patients, recent symptoms of jaundice, high serum bilirubin, low serum creatinine, high serum alkaline phosphatase, low red blood cell count and low serum sodium were identified as the most important features.

The Obscure Potential of AHNAK2.

AHNAK2 is a protein discovered in 2004, with a strong association with oncogenesis in various epithelial cancers. It has a large 616 kDa tripartite structure and is thought to take part in the formation of large multi-protein complexes. High expression is found in clear cell renal carcinoma, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, uveal melanoma, and lung adenocarcinoma, with a relation to poor prognosis.

T cells in pancreatic cancer stroma.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a highly devastating disease with a dismal 5-year survival rate. PDAC has a complex tumour microenvironment; characterised by a robust desmoplastic stroma, extensive infiltration of immunesuppressive cells such as immature myeloid cells, tumour-associated macrophages, neutrophils and regulatory T cells, and the presence of exhausted and senescent T cells. The cross-talk between cells in this fibrotic tumour establishes an immune-privileged microenvironment that supports tumour cell escape from immune-surveillance, disease progression and spread to distant organs.

Temporality of clinical factors associated with pancreatic cancer: a case-control study using linked electronic health records.

Background: Pancreatic cancer risk is poorly quantified in relation to the temporal presentation of medical comorbidities and lifestyle. This study aimed to examine this aspect, with possible influence of demographics.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective case-control study on the ethnically-diverse population of East London, UK, using linked electronic health records.

Visible to near-infrared refractive properties of freshly-excised human-liver tissues: marking hepatic malignancies.

The refractive index is an optical constant that plays a significant role in the description of light-matter interactions. When it comes to biological media, refraction is understudied despite recent advances in the field of bio-optics. In the present article, we report on the measurement of the refractive properties of freshly excised healthy and cancerous human liver samples, by use of a prism-coupling technique covering the visible and near-infrared spectral range.