Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital have identified biomarkers in the blood that can be used to distinguish gallbladder cancer from inflammation of the gallbladder. This could lead to fewer unnecessary operations and better treatment decisions for patients with suspected gallbladder cancer. The study has been published in the journal JHEP Reports.
Gallbladder cancer and gallbladder inflammation, also known as cholecystitis, are difficult to distinguish with current diagnostic methods. This often leads to patients undergoing extensive surgery unnecessarily. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now identified eight proteins in the blood that can distinguish between these conditions with high accuracy.
Helping doctors make decisions
The researchers analysed blood samples from 82 patients at Karolinska University Hospital with suspected gallbladder cancer. They used machine learning and proteomics - large-scale analyses of protein structure and function - to identify potential biomarkers. By examining 7,500 different proteins, the researchers were able to identify 651 proteins that differed depending on whether the person had cancer or inflammation. Of these, eight proteins showed particularly high diagnostic accuracy.
"Our results show that these proteins could be used to develop a non-invasive test that could help doctors make better decisions before surgery. This could reduce the number of unnecessary surgeries and improve patients' quality of life", says study first author Ghada Nouairia , assistant professor at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge , Karolinska Institutet.
Advances in precision medicine
The next step is to validate these results in larger studies and to develop clinical tests that can be used routinely in healthcare. This discovery is an important advance in precision medicine to improve the diagnosis of gallbladder cancer and make it more personalised.
"We are hopeful that our findings can lead to better diagnostic tools and thus better care for patients with suspected gallbladder cancer," concludes Ghada Nouairia.
The study was funded by the Swedish Society for Medical Research (SSMF), the Centre for Innovative Medicine at Karolinska Institutet and Region Stockholm. The researchers declare that there are no conflicts of interest.
Publication
"Towards precision medicine strategies using plasma proteomic profiling for suspected gallbladder cancer: a pilot study" , Ghada Nouairia, Martin Cornillet, Hannes Jansson, Annika Bergquist, Ernesto Sparrelid, JHEP Reports, online 21 February 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.jhepr.2025.101365.
