by Earth Institute, Columbia University

New research has revealed that the signature of metal ions present in
urine samples is an accurate indicator of pancreatic ductal
adenocarcinoma (PDAC), one of the deadliest types of cancer.

The discovery could signal the possibility of a new and completely
noninvasive test for pancreatic cancer, of which PDAC is by far the
most common form. Although it accounts for only 2.5 percent of new
cancer cases, pancreatic cancer leads to 6 percent of cancer deaths
worldwide each year, because the mortality rate is so high, at around
85 percent. No tests for early detection are currently available, and
as symptoms are usually nonspecific, PDAC is normally diagnosed at a
late stage when it is already locally advanced or has spread to other
parts of the body. Any improvement in tests for early detection would
therefore represent a breakthrough.

The study, published in the journal Metallomics, took as its starting
point the fact that cancer leads to changes in biochemical reactions
within the body. These changes, if measurable, can be powerful tools
for detection. The research team discovered that PDAC patients had
significantly lower levels of urinary calcium and magnesium, and
increased levels of copper and zinc, when compared to healthy
controls. A combined analysis of these essential metals was shown to
be an accurate indicator of biochemical changes related to PDAC. The
team also found that the urine of PDAC patients has higher levels of a
particular isotope of zinc compared to healthy controls.

Lead author Kathrin Schilling, who did the work while at the
University of Oxford, said, “As urine samples can be taken time and
time again in a noninvasive way, we can start to talk about an
effective method to screen and monitor high-risk groups for pancreatic
cancer. Our results show that developing new science crossing
interdisciplinary boundaries can address really important needs in
medicine.” Schilling is now based at Columbia University’s
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

The study’s senior author, Tatjana Crnogorac-Jurcevic from Queen Mary
University London, said, “We are very excited about our findings, and
hope that we will be able to continue this work and further validate
obtained results.”

The researchers say the next step will be to study the levels of
metals in a larger number of urine samples as well as in prediagnostic
urine samples, to see if changes in their levels can be detected
before the symptoms of cancer appear. If the results are still
promising, the metal biomarkers will then be tested in a real clinical
scenario. Researchers at Barts Cancer Centre, who coauthored the new
study, have already embarked on a study of protein biomarkers in the
urine of PDAC patients.

Other research groups involved were the Lamont-Doherty lab of Alex
Halliday, director of Columbia’s Earth Institute; and the Department
of Pediatrics and Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Russia’s Sechenov
First Moscow State Medical University.

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More information: Kathrin Schilling et al. Urine metallomics signature
as an indicator of pancreatic cancer, Metallomics (2020). DOI:
10.1039/D0MT00061B
Journal information: Metallomics