New research may one one day help in the diagnosis and prognosis of the nation's number four cancer killer of men and number five cancer killer of women. The killer: pancreatic cancer.

Findings from an Ohio State University study show pancreatic cancer cells may leave signs in gene-related molecules called microRNAs.

Published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, this study examined pancreatic tissue from 65 people with the disease and 42 people with chronic inflammation of the pancreas, called chronic pancreatitis.
Scientists found 15 microRNAs more common to the cancer patients than those with chronic pancreatitis. Eight microRNAs were less common in the cancer patients, and a microRNA subgroup was linked to increased pancreatic cancer survival, making it possible to identify long-term survivors from those who would live for only about two years.

Scientists must now determine what significance these microRNAs play in the pancreatic cancer process.

Pancreatic cancer, a disease with no routine screening test, kills 33,000 people every year in the United States. The deadly disease is often diagnosed at very late stages due to a lack of symptoms in the early stages of the disease.