Tarara V, Panteris E, Varlamis S, Andreadou E, Pessach I, Bobos M, Chatzidimitriou M, Mitka S, Papoutsi A, Eleftheriou P, Skepastianos P, Karamitrousis E. Prognostic biomarkers for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma: A contemporary systematic review and modelling study. World J Transl Med 2026; 12(4): 126295 [DOI: 10.5528/wjtm.126295]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Evangelos Karamitrousis, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Sciences, International Hellenic University, Alexandria Campus, Sindos, Thessaloniki 57400, Kentrikí Makedonía, Greece. karamitrousis@ihu.gr
Research Domain of This Article
Oncology
Article-Type of This Article
research-article
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Tarara V, Panteris E, Varlamis S, Andreadou E, Pessach I, Bobos M, Chatzidimitriou M, Mitka S, Papoutsi A, Eleftheriou P, Skepastianos P, Karamitrousis E. Prognostic biomarkers for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma: A contemporary systematic review and modelling study. World J Transl Med 2026; 12(4): 126295 [DOI: 10.5528/wjtm.126295]
Vassiliki Tarara, Sotirios Varlamis, Eleni Andreadou, Ilias Pessach, Mattheos Bobos, Maria Chatzidimitriou, Stella Mitka, Androniki Papoutsi, Phaedra Eleftheriou, Petros Skepastianos, Evangelos Karamitrousis, Department of Biomedical Sciences, International Hellenic University, Thessaloniki 57400, Kentrikí Makedonía, Greece
Eleftherios Panteris, School of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion 70013, Crete, Greece
Author contributions: Tarara V and Karamitrousis E conceived and designed the research study; Tarara V conducted the literature search, study selection, and data extraction, performed the bioinformatic and statistical analyses, and prepared the Figures and Tables; Tarara V and Karamitrousis E checked the risk-of-bias ratings; Tarara V drafted the manuscript; Panteris E and Karamitrousis E supervised the methodological approach and interpretation of the findings; Varlamis S, Andreadou E, Pessach I, Bobos M, Chatzidimitriou M, Mitka S, Papoutsi A, Eleftheriou P, and Skepastianos P contributed to the interpretation of the findings and critically revised the manuscript for important intellectual content; all authors reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work.
AI contribution statement: Generative AI tools were used to assist with consistency checks of numerical values and R code. No AI tools were used to generate, analyse, or interpret the underlying molecular data; perform statistical analyses; or select studies for inclusion. All literature screening, data extraction, risk-of-bias and certainty judgements, and statistical analyses were performed by the authors. The authors reviewed and verified all AI-assisted text and accept full responsibility for the content and integrity of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Corresponding author: Evangelos Karamitrousis, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Sciences, International Hellenic University, Alexandria Campus, Sindos, Thessaloniki 57400, Kentrikí Makedonía, Greece. karamitrousis@ihu.gr
Received: July 30, 2026 Revised: September 20, 2026 Accepted: October 28, 2026 Published online: November 28, 2026 Processing time: 97 Days and 7.9 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: This study integrates a contemporary systematic review with exploratory modelling to examine why prognostic biomarker discovery in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma has not translated into clinical practice. Although numerous tumor-derived transcriptomic and proteomic biomarkers showed independent survival associations, robust external validation and incorporation into clinical trials remained uncommon. An exploratory 5-gene molecular signature showed a strong survival association but only modest discrimination in the derivation cohort, and its continuous risk score failed external validation. These findings highlight reproducibility, prespecified validation, and biomarker-guided trial design as priorities for clinically useful pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma risk stratification.
