A new study co-authored by Dr. Daniel Renouf and Dr. David Schaeffer, published this month in Frontiers in Gastroenterology, highlights a promising lead in the search for earlier pancreatic cancer detection: new-onset diabetes.
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) — the most common form of pancreatic cancer — is usually caught late, which is a major reason its five-year survival rate remains around 13 percent. One of the biggest opportunities to change that outlook is finding the disease earlier, before it has spread.
The study reviews growing evidence that adults over about 50 who suddenly develop diabetes face a notably higher risk of being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer within the following three years. That makes new-onset diabetes one of the few identifiable warning signs available to clinicians today, and the paper lays out where the evidence stands, the practical challenges of using it as a screening tool, and what research still needs to happen before it can be used more widely in clinical care.
This builds on work presented at our November 2025 Research Symposium, where Dr. James Johnson and Dr. Janel Kopp shared evidence that elevated insulin levels can directly fuel pancreatic tumor growth — part of a growing picture of how closely pancreatic cancer and metabolic disease are connected.