Overview
- The peer-reviewed report in Cancer Genomics & Proteomics identifies significantly lower CTDNEP1 levels in PDAC, especially in early-stage disease.
- Low expression correlates with higher frequencies of alterations in KRAS, TP53, CDKN2A, and SMAD4.
- Patients with reduced CTDNEP1 show worse overall and disease-specific survival, with the strongest prognostic effect in stage II.
- Expression levels track with the tumor microenvironment, with low tied to chronic inflammation and immune evasion and high linked to greater immune-cell infiltration and metabolic activity.
- The Tokyo University of Science team has begun in vitro and in vivo studies to probe mechanisms and assess biomarker and therapeutic potential, noting the current findings are observational.