MicroRNA markers for the diagnosis of pancreatic and biliary-tract cancers.

It is difficult to detect pancreatic cancer or biliary-tract cancer at an early stage using current diagnostic technology. Utilizing microRNA (miRNA) markers that are stably present in peripheral blood, we aimed to identify pancreatic and biliary-tract cancers in patients. With "3D-Gene", a highly sensitive microarray, we examined comprehensive miRNA expression profiles in 571 serum samples obtained from healthy patients, patients with pancreatic, biliary-tract, or other digestive cancers, and patients with non-malignant abnormalities in the pancreas or biliary tract.