# Plasma vascular endothelial growth factor levels are a potential therapy-response biomarker for pancreatic cancer

## TL;DR

The study suggests that plasma vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels could help track how pancreatic cancer patients respond to treatment.

## Contribution

The novel contribution is identifying VEGF as a potential early biomarker for therapy response in pancreatic cancer patients.

## Key findings

- VEGF levels in plasma may indicate treatment response as early as the second chemotherapy cycle.
- Among six cytokines tested, VEGF showed the most promise as a therapy-response biomarker.
- Further testing in a phase II trial is needed to confirm VEGF's potential as a biomarker.

## Abstract

Cytokines have long been studied for their role in the pathophysiology of cancer, though their role is varied and complex. Cytokines have been mainly developed as a diagnostic or prognostic biomarker using a single measurement from a cohort of patients. Dynamic changes in cytokines may inform us about the prognostic impact of therapy under investigation.

We investigated retrospectively whether a panel of selected cytokines could be used as a potential biomarker to assess treatment response and predict the prognosis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) patients (n=19) treated with combination of Gemcitabine, nab-Paclitaxel and all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA), in the Phase I trial (STARPAC, NCT03307148). We measured cytokine levels in the plasma samples, from multiple cycle/visit time-points.

Of the six cytokines (IFN-γ, IL-8, IL-16, VEGF, IL-1RA and RANTES) assessed from the STARPAC trial, we propose that VEGF could serve as a potential biomarker for eventual therapy response, as early as the second chemotherapy cycle (of six).

VEGF as a potential therapy response biomarker will need to be tested in phase II randomized controlled trial.