Advances on diagnostic biomarkers of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma: A systems biology perspective

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a lethal malignancy that is usually diagnosed at an advanced stage when curative surgery is no longer an option. Robust diagnostic biomarkers with high sensitivity and specificity for early detection are urgently needed. Systems biology provides a powerful tool for understanding diseases and solving challenging biological problems, allowing biomarkers to be identified and quantified with increasing accuracy, sensitivity, and comprehensiveness. Here, we present a comprehensive overview of efforts to identify biomarkers of PDAC using genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabonomics, and bioinformatics. Systems biology perspective provides a crucial “network” to integrate multi-omics approaches to biomarker identification, shedding additional light on early PDAC detection.