Due to the neuroendocrine nature of this cancer, the researchers are interested in developing an early screening technique involving hormonal and molecular biomarkers through routine blood tests. PanNETs are classified into functional tumors, which have symptoms related to excessive hormone secretion, and non-functional tumors, which do not secrete hormones and therefore do not exhibit associated symptoms. Currently, measurement of hormones such as pancreatic polypeptide, gastrin, proinsulin, insulin, glucagon, and vasoactive intestinal peptide can determine if a tumor is involved in hypersecretion (Ro et al., 2013). Up to 60% of PanNETs are non-functional, which may pose a challenge. However, 85% of PanNETs have an elevated blood marker, which may allow for research and the scrutiny of biomarkers to accomplish this goal (Jensen et al., 2009).
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