Research in the News
Maryland high school student wins Intel and Smithsonian awards for pancreatic cancer test
Jack Andraka, a 15-year-old high school student from Crownsville, MD, won first prize at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair as well as the Smithsonian American Ingenuity Youth Award for his work in exploring diagnostic tools for early detection of pancreatic cancer.
We are delighted that Jack shows such promise as a scientist, and that he has put his talent and effort to work towards such a worthwhile goal. Jack lost a close family friend to pancreatic cancer, fueling his dedication to focus his studies on this disease.
The project involves a dipstick technology, whereby a small piece of paper is coated with antibodies that recognize proteins that circulate in the blood or urine of patients with pancreatic cancer, but not individuals without the disease. This technology is much quicker and less expensive than standard laboratory tests.
Several videos tell Jack’s story in his own words. Jack performed his experiments in the laboratory of Anirban Maitra, MBBS, at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Maitra is a leader in the field, recipient of a 2004 Pancreatic Cancer Action Network Career Development Award, and Chair of our Scientific Advisory Board.
Jack’s work is very exciting, but it is important that pancreatic cancer patients and those at risk for pancreatic cancer understand that this work is still preliminary and many more years of research will be required before this test becomes widely available.
The following Q & A will help clarify Jack’s project and what his work means in the fight against pancreatic cancer.
What do we know about the ability of Jack’s test to detect pancreatic cancer?
What needs to be done before this test is available to everyone?
- The studies Jack performed show that the test he developed for the protein he is interested in, called mesothelin, is a good, reliable assay that detects very low levels of the protein in the bloodstream of both mice and people.
- Jack showed in mouse studies that the levels of mesothelin are higher in the bloodstream of mice with pancreatic cancer compared to healthy mice. He also tested some samples from patients with and without advanced pancreatic cancer with encouraging results, although more samples will be necessary to know for sure if this holds up for human pancreatic cancer. There are published scientific studies that show that the majority of people with pancreatic cancer have high levels of mesothelin in their tumors, and many also have mesothelin in the bloodstream. So there is reason to think that mesothelin is a good indicator of pancreatic cancer, but it may be necessary to combine detection of mesothelin with other proteins to be sure the test does not miss identifying people who have pancreatic cancer.
- We do not yet know how much mesothelin is circulating in the bloodstream of patients whose disease is caught early enough to be eligible for surgery, or those with pre-cancer. Many promising biomarkers have worked in the case of cancer where levels are high, but have subsequently failed in tests that aim for early detection. This is because the levels of the marker are generally much lower in patients with small, early lesions compared to levels in the patients with more advanced disease that make up the test population.
It is very exciting to see such exuberance and passion from a high school science student interested in experimenting in how to help fight this terrible disease. We wish Jack and other budding young scientists who are interested in working in the area of pancreatic cancer to pursue it with dedication and determination.
- Jack is partnering with companies that are interested in taking his discoveries forward for more testing and able to make the test commercially available.
- Studies with a much larger number of samples, and ultimately a forward-looking study on individuals at risk for developing pancreatic cancer, are required before this test could be considered ready to use for the diagnosis of cancer. It will take several years and a lot of resources before these studies can be accomplished, but Jack’s findings have led to some very promising possibilities for a fast, inexpensive test for the early detection of pancreatic cancer.