Bay Biosciences provides high quality, clinical grade fresh frozen serum (sera), plasma, and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) samples from patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Moreover, they provide detailed patient information and clinical data associated with the pancreatic cancer serum (sera), plasma, and PBMC samples to a customer for research, development, and discovery.

Pancreatic Cancer Overview

Malignant (cancer) cells form in the tissues of the pancreas, causing pancreatic cancer. In addition, the pancreas is an organ in the abdomen that sits behind the lower part of the stomach. Furthermore, the pancreas releases enzymes that aid digestion and produces hormones that help manage blood sugar.

Specifically, the pancreas is a gland about 6 inches long that resembles a thin pear lying on its side. Moreover, the head refers to the wider end of the pancreas, the body refers to the middle section, and the tail refers to the narrow end.

The pancreas is positioned between the stomach and the spine. Furthermore, the pancreas performs two main jobs in the human body: it produces juices that help digest and break down food and also creates hormones, such as insulin and glucagon, that help control blood sugar levels.

Several types of growths can develop in the pancreas, including cancerous and noncancerous tumors. Specifically, the most common type of cancer that develops in the pancreas starts in the cells lining the ducts that carry digestive enzymes out of the pancreas and is called pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Unfortunately, doctors seldom detect pancreatic cancer in its early stages when it is most curable. This is primarily, because the cancer often does not cause symptoms until it spreads to other organs.

Types of Pancreatic Cancer

Several types of pancreatic cancer exist; specifically, this depends on whether the exocrine or endocrine component initiated the cancer. Additionally, rarely, other types of cancer can start in the pancreas, such as lymphoma and sarcoma.

Doctors increasingly diagnose intra-ductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN). Specifically, an IPMN is a tumor that grows within the ducts of the pancreas and produces a thick fluid called mucin. Although IPMN is not cancerous when it begins, it could become cancerous if doctors do not treat it.

Consequently, by the time doctors diagnose an IPMN, it has already worsened and become cancer. 

Endocrine tumors: Doctors also call these pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNETs) or islet cell tumors. In fact, they occur much less frequently than exocrine tumors, making up about 7% of all pancreatic cancers.

Specifically, a pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor can be functioning or nonfunctioning. To clarify, a functioning tumor produces hormones, whereas a nonfunctioning tumor does not produce hormones. Furthermore, a functioning neuroendocrine tumor receives its name based on the hormone the cells normally produce. These include:

  • Insulinoma
  • Glucagonoma
  • Gastrinoma
  • Somatostatinoma
  • VIPomas
  • PPomas

Signs and Symptoms of Pancreatic Cancer

Doctors refer to pancreatic cancer as a silent diseas  because patients do not exhibit many noticeable symptoms early on. When patients with pancreatic cancer develop symptoms, those symptoms often resemble those of other medical conditions, such as an ulcer or pancreatitis.

Following are the common signs and symptoms of pancreatic cancer as the cancer grows:

  • Firstly, yellow skin and eyes, darkening of the urine, itching, and clay-colored stool, which are signs of jaundice caused by a blockage of the bile ducts
  • Additionally, upper abdominal pain radiates to upper back pain
  • Moreover, blood clots may occur
  • Furthermore, diabetes can be a symptom
  • In addition, painful swelling of an arm or leg due to a blood clot might be experienced
  • Also, burning feeling in stomach or other gastrointestinal discomforts may arise
  • Furthermore, stomach bloating is another common symptom
  • Notably, floating stools with a particularly bad odor and an unusual color due to the body not digesting fats well
  • As a result, fatigue is often reported
  • In conjunction with this, headaches may manifest
  • Consequently, there can be a loss of appetite
  • Additionally, nausea and vomiting are also common symptoms
  • Moreover, chills and sweats
  • Finally fever and unexplained weight loss are significant indicators to watch for

Pancreatic Cancer Causes

The exact causes of how pancreatic cancer develops remain unknown. However, researchers have identified some factors, including smoking and certain inherited gene mutations, that may increase the risk of developing pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic Cancer Risk Factors

The known factors that may increase the risk of developing pancreatic cancer include:

  • Smoking
  • Firstly, smoking;
  • Secondly, diabetes;
  • Additionally, chronic inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis);
  • Moreover, a family history of genetic syndromes that can increase cancer risk, including a BRCA2 gene mutation, Lynch syndrome, and familial atypical mole-malignant melanoma (FAMMM) syndrome;
  • Furthermore, a family history of pancreatic cancer;
  • In addition, obesity obesity;
  • Lastly, older age, as most pancreatic cancer patients receive a diagnosis after age 65.

Researchers have demonstrated that, in fact, the combination of smoking, long-standing diabetes, and a poor diet, consequently, increases the risk of pancreatic cancer beyond the risk of any one of these factors alone.

Pancreatic Cancer Complications

As pancreatic cancer progresses, it can cause complications for patients, such as:

Weight Loss

  • Weight loss: A number of factors may cause patients with pancreatic cancer to lose weight. For instance, the cancer might consume the body’s energy, leading to weight loss. Moreover, cancer treatments or a tumor pressing on your stomach may cause nausea and vomiting, making it difficult to eat. Furthermore, your body may struggle to process nutrients from food because the pancreas doesn’t produce enough digestive juices.

Jaundice

  • Jaundice: Jaundice can be caused by pancreatic cancer that blocks the liver’s bile duct. Specifically, yellow skin and eyes, dark-colored urine, and pale-colored stools are included as signs. Furthermore, abdominal pain is usually not associated with jaundice. In some cases, it may be recommended that a plastic or metal tube be placed inside the patient’s bile duct to hold it open. To achieve this, the help of a procedure called endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is used. During ERCP, an endoscope is passed down the throat, through the stomach, and into the upper part of the small intestine. Subsequently, a dye is then injected into the pancreas.

Pain

  • Pain: A growing tumor may press on nerves in the abdomen, consequently causing severe pain. Furthermore, pain medications can make the patient feel more comfortable. In addition, treatments, such as radiation and chemotherapy, might slow tumor growth and provide some pain relief. Moreover, in severe cases, your doctor might recommend performing a procedure to inject alcohol into the nerves that control pain in the abdomen (celiac plexus block). Ultimately, this procedure prevents the nerves from sending pain signals to the brain.

Bowel Obstruction

  • Bowel obstruction: Specifically, pancreatic cancer that grows into or presses on the first part of the small intestine (duodenum) can block the flow of digested food from the stomach into the intestines. Consequently, your doctor may recommend that you place a tube (stent) in your small intestine to hold it open. Additionally, in some situations, having surgery to place a temporary feeding tube or to attach your stomach to a lower point in your intestines that isn’t blocked by cancer might help.

Biospecimens

Bay Biosciences is, indeed a global leader in providing researchers with high quality, clinical grade, fully characterized human tissue samples, bio-specimens, and human bio-fluid collections.

Specifically, aamples available include cancer (tumor) tissue, cancer serum, cancer plasma, cancer, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). and human tissue samples from most other therapeutic areas and diseases.

Moreover, Bay Biosciences maintains and manages its own biorepository, the human tissue bank (biobank) consisting of thousands of diseased samples (specimens) and from normal healthy donors available in all formats and types.

In fact, our biobank procures and stores fully consented, de-identified and institutional review boards (IRB) approved human tissue samples and matched controls.

Additionally, all our human tissue collections, human specimens and human bio-fluids are provided with detailed, samples associated patient’s clinical data.

In particular, critical patient’s clinical data includes information relating to their past and current disease, treatment history, lifestyle choices, biomarkers, and genetic information.

Moreover, patient’s data is extremely valuable for researchers and is used to help identify new effective treatments (drug discovery & development) in oncology, and other therapeutic areas and diseases.

Specifically, Bay Biosciences banks wide variety of human tissue samples and biological samples, including cryogenically preserved at – 80°C.

For example fresh frozen tissue samples, tumor tissue samples, formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE), tissue slides, with matching human bio-fluids, whole blood and blood-derived products such as serum, plasma and PBMC.

Furthermore, Bay Biosciences is a global leader in collecting and providing human tissue samples according to the specified requirements and customized, tailor-made collection protocols.

Therefore, please contact us anytime to discuss your special research projects and customized human tissue sample requirements.

Types of Biospecimens

Bay Biosciences provides human tissue samples (human specimens) from diseased and normal healthy donors which includes:

Customized Collections

Moreover, we can also procure most human bio-specimens. Furthermore; we offer special collections and requests for human samples that are difficult to find. All our human tissue samples are procured through IRB-approved clinical protocols and procedures.

In addition to the standard processing protocols, Bay Biosciences can also provide human plasma, serum, and PBMC bio-fluid samples using custom processing protocols. Additionally you buy donor-specific collections in higher volumes and specified sample aliquots from us.

Furthermore, Bay Biosciences also provides human samples from normal healthy donors; volunteers, for controls and clinical research, contact us Now.

 

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