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Early sign of pancreatic cancer discovered

Matthew G. Vander Heiden, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovator ‘11-‘13, Damon Runyon Fellow ‘06-‘08) of MIT, Cambridge, and colleagues, reported the discovery of a sign of the early development of pancreatic cancer – an increase in certain amino acids due to changes in metabolism. This occurs before the disease is diagnosed and symptoms appear, and the researchers hope that eventually they may be able to use this information to detect the disease earlier. These findings were published in the journal Nature Medicine.