Assessment of the Cytotoxic Immune Status of Pancreatic Cancer Patients and the Severity of the Cancer Using Measurement of Natural Killer Cell Activities

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Pancreatic cancer is the 5th leading cause of cancer death and the worst prognostic cancer in the world. This is due to high recurrent rate after surgical resection and poor response to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Recent studies revealed that peri-tumoral structure and patients' immune status including cytotoxic immunity played significant role in the bad behavior of pancreatic cancer. While past studies focused on oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, recent studies focused on patients' own immunity. Patients' immunity modified by cancer cells is found to be correlated to cancer progression and metastasis. Natural killer cells, playing an important role in cytotoxic immune system, are revealed to be decreased in patients with lung cancer, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, colorectal cancer, and breast cancer. And in melanoma mouse model, when NK cell was suppressed, cancer progression and metastasis were accelerated. This study sought to find the correlation of patients' cytotoxic immune status to cancer progression and status by measurement of NK cell activity in pancreatic cancer patients. This would be basic support to construct a prognostic model of pancreatic cancer for early metastasis and post operational recurrence.

Conditions
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Pancreatic Cancer

Intervention / Treatment
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* Procedure: Blood collection


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: age over 18 and under 85 Control group : incidental found benign pancreatic cyst, non-neoplastic gall bladder polyp (ex, cholesterol polyp), healthy people having no evidence of malignancy in check up within 1 year Patient group : histological diagnosed pancreatic cancer patients, clinically diagnosed pancreatic cancer patients by radiologic evaluation Agreed to enroll the study and signed informed consent Exclusion Criteria: Patients with other malignancies within 5 years Patients treated with steroid due to any reason within 1 year Not signed informed consent

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 19 Years
Maximum Age: 84 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Diagnostic
Allocation: Non-Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Other: Patient Group<br>Pancreatic cancer patients | Procedure: Blood collection<br>* 1ml of blood specimen collection<br>|
| Other: Control Group<br>Healthy people without evidence of malignancy | Procedure: Blood collection<br>* 1ml of blood specimen collection<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Difference of the cytotoxic immune status | Difference of the cytotoxic immune status between patients group and control group by comparing quantitative measurements of NK cell activities by ELISA kit | 24-hour after blood collection | 
| Difference of the severity of the pancreatic cancer | Difference of the cytotoxic immune status according to the stage of the pancreatic cancer by comparing quantitative measurements of NK cell activities by ELISA kit | 24-hour after blood collection | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Correlation of the cytotoxic immune status | Correlation of the cytotoxic immune status with tumor markers | 24-hour after blood collection |