Findings of a new study have pointed towards the possibility of detecting pancreatic cancer in its early stages. During the study, an international team of researchers identified 100% of patients with late-stage pancreatic cancer and those with earlier stages. The detection became possible after researches looked into a protein in the blood that is produced in large amount by tumor cells.

Published in Nature, the study has showed that the protein turns up in tiny virus-sized particles, called exosomes. These are excreted by all of the body’s cells. However, the protein only turns up in exosomes only when cancer emerges, which means that the disease can be detected in early stages by looking for exosomes.

Study co-author Dr. Raghu Kalluri, professor and chairman of the department of cancer biology at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, said it’s very difficult to detect pancreatic cancer in early stages. “People don't feel any symptoms that make them want to go to the clinic until their cancer is stage 3 or stage 4. Using this test we were 100 percent accurate at identifying all cancer patients”, he added.

As per estimates by the National Cancer Institute, pancreatic cancer will hit 48,960 Americans in 2015. Of them, 40,560 will die from the disease and known as one of the deadly cancers with just 7.2% surviving five years.

Based on the current results available from the study, Kalluri has predicted that a screening test for pancreatic cancer will be available within a year. As of now, no reliable screening test is available for pancreatic cancer.