By the year 2030, pancreatic cancer is expected to become the second most common cause of cancer deaths for both men and women in the United States, according to recent reports. While considered uncommon, inherited gene mutations can increase a person’s risk of developing pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer is a rare, yet elusive and deadly cancer, with a five-year survival rate of about 10%. If the cancer has metastasized, that rate lowers to 3%. And treatment options are extremely limited.

A large international collaboration led by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center has identified promising new targets for pancreatic cancer treatment and early diagnosis after examining various aspects of these tumors' genes and proteins.

The Precede consortium and Konica Minolta Precision Medicine said Tuesday that KMPM and its subsidiaries, Ambry Genetics and Invicro, have partnered with the international effort to advance diagnostic and screening approaches for pancreatic cancer early detection.