The glycan CA19-9 promotes pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer in mice

Sweet bystander becomes a villain Patients with pancreatic cancer often have elevated blood levels of CA19-9, a carbohydrate antigen present on many proteins. CA19-9 is thus commonly used as a biomarker for diagnosing and monitoring disease progression. In a study of mice, Engle et al. found that CA19-9 may be more than an innocent bystander that marks the presence of pancreatic disease; it may play a causal role in disease (see the Perspective by Halbrook and Crawford). Transgenic mice expressing the human enzymes that add CA19-9 to proteins developed severe pancreatitis that could be reversed by treatment with CA19-9 antibodies. When the transgenic mice also harbored a Kras oncogene, they went on to develop pancreatic cancer. These unexpected observations suggest new avenues for the treatment of pancreatic disease. Science , this issue p. 1156 ; see also p. 1132