Methods for Detecting and for Treating Pancreatic Cancer

A method of diagnosing pancreatic cancer in a human patient, wherein the human patient has a pancreas, said method comprising:

• obtaining a biological sample from the human patient, wherein the biological sample includes one or more glycoforms of a Lewis antigen and one or more glycoforms of MUC5AC;
• detecting a level of the one or more glycoforms of the Lewis antigen and the one or more glycoforms of the MUC5AC in the biological sample;
• obtaining an image of the pancreas of the patient;
• and
• diagnosing the patient with pancreatic cancer when (a) the one or more glycoforms of the Lewis antigen and the one or more glycoforms of the MUC5AC are at a different level than a statistically validated threshold for the one or more glycoforms of the Lewis antigen and the one or more glycoforms of the MUC5AC and (b) the image of the pancreas indicates pancreatic cancer in the patient.

A method of diagnosing and treating pancreatic cancer in a subject, said method comprising:

• obtaining a biological sample from the human subject, wherein said biological sample includes one or more glycoforms of a Lewis antigen and one or more glycoforms of MUC5AC;
• detecting a level of the one or more glycoforms of the Lewis antigen and a level of the one or more glycoforms of the MUC5AC in the biological sample;
• diagnosing the subject with pancreatic cancer when the one or more glycoforms of the Lewis antigen and the one or more glycoforms of the MUC5AC in the biological sample are at a different level than a statistically validated threshold for the one or more glycoforms of the Lewis antigen and the one or more glycoforms of the MUC5AC;
• and
• administering a therapeutically effective amount of a treatment for pancreatic cancer to the diagnosed subject.

A method of monitoring treatment for pancreatic cancer in a human patient, comprising:

• requesting a first biological sample from and first diagnostic information about the patient, wherein the first diagnostic information is a level of one or more glycoforms of a Lewis antigen and a level of the one or more glycoforms of MUC5AC in the first biological sample;
• administering a therapeutically effective amount of a treatment for pancreatic cancer to the patient;
• after administering the therapeutically effective amount of the treatment for pancreatic cancer to the patient, requesting a second biological sample from and second diagnostic information about the patient, wherein the second diagnostic information is a level of the one or more glycoforms of the Lewis antigen and a level of the one or more glycoforms of MUC5AC in the second biological sample;
• and
• comparing the first diagnostic information and the second diagnostic information to determine whether the one or more glycoforms of the Lewis antigen and the one or more glycoforms of MUC5AC in the first biological sample are at a different level than the one or more glycoforms of the Lewis antigen and the one or more glycoforms of MUC5AC in the second biological sample.

A method for detecting a level of a glycan in a subject, comprising:

• obtaining from the subject a biological sample having the glycan;
• providing a substrate having a capture reagent;
• exposing the biological sample to the capture reagent to immobilize the glycan in the biological sample on the substrate;
• providing a detection reagent;
• exposing the immobilized glycan to the detection reagent to bind the detection reagent to the immobilized glycan;
• visualizing the bound detection reagent to detect the level of the immobilized glycan;
• and
• performing one or both of following steps (a) and (b), wherein step (a) is, before exposing the biological sample to the capture reagent, combining one or more pre-capture enzymes with the biological sample, and wherein step (b) is, before exposing the immobilized glycan to the detection reagent, exposing the immobilized glycan to one or more pre-detection enzymes.