{
  "abstract": "Nerve growth factor (NGF) signaling is involved in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) neurotropism, perineural invasion, pain, and tumor-stromal crosstalk, but its value as a circulating biomarker remains poorly defined. We retrospectively analyzed 51 patients with PDAC who underwent serial liquid-biopsy assessment across perioperative and advanced-disease timepoints. Circulating β-NGF was assessed in plasma, and samples without measurable NGF were classified as non-detectable. NGF was analyzed as both a zero-inflated continuous variable and a binary detectable/non-detectable biomarker. Phase-aligned associations with recurrence, disease-free survival, first-line progression-free survival, CA19-9, CEA, TGFβ, PD-L1, pain, and pathological perineural invasion were evaluated using non-parametric and permutation-based methods with false-discovery-rate adjustment. NGF availability was highest at first-line treatment initiation, where 9 of 40 patients had detectable NGF (22.5%). The clearest signal emerged postoperatively: patients who subsequently recurred had higher NGF values than those who did not (median 25.5 pg/mL vs. non-detectable; nominal p = 0.038). Detectable postoperative NGF was directionally associated with recurrence, while detectable NGF at first-line treatment initiation was associated with numerically shorter progression-free survival. Pooled active-disease measurements did not show a clear NGF increase versus postoperative samples, arguing against a generic disease-burden signal. No association remained significant after false-discovery-rate correction; therefore, all observed signals should be interpreted as exploratory and hypothesis-generating. These findings support prospective validation of circulating NGF within multimarker liquid-biopsy strategies focused on postoperative recurrence, perineural invasion-related biology, and treatment resistance in PDAC.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Medical Oncology Unit, University Hospital of Parma, 43126 Parma, Italy",
    "Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, 43126 Parma, Italy",
    "Lab Medical Oncology, Department of Medical Oncology, Cancer Center Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands",
    "Cancer Pharmacology Lab, AIRC Start-Up Unit, Fondazione Pisana per la Scienza, 56126 Pisa, Italy"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 8,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Ingrid Garajová",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-9302-6896"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Graziana Digiacomo"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Andrea Cavazzoni",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-3752-1868"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Bing Wang",
      "orcid": "0009-0004-8086-7110"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Michela Verze",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-5670-8812"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Roberta Minari",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4808-0308"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Virginia Agnetti",
      "orcid": "0009-0005-1790-9477"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Elisa Giovannetti",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-7565-7504"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6yhp1r5tq6w9r.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3390/biom16101433",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13702173/?tool=EBI",
  "id": "6yhp1r5tq6w9r",
  "issns": [
    "2218-273X"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2218-273X/16/10/1433",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2730|Pancreatic and Hepatic Oncology Research"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7215912772",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13702173/pdf/?tool=EBI",
  "pmcid": "PMC13702173",
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-01",
  "publisher": "MDPI AG",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6yhp1r5tq6w9r.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:18:59Z",
      "native_id": "10.3390/biom16101433",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2218-273X/16/10/1433"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:21:26Z",
      "native_id": "PMC:PMC13702173",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13702173"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2730|Pancreatic and Hepatic Oncology Research",
      "subfield": "oncology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Longitudinal Circulating Nerve Growth Factor in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma: An Exploratory Study of Postoperative Recurrence and First-Line Disease Control",
  "title_text": "Longitudinal Circulating Nerve Growth Factor in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma: An Exploratory Study of Postoperative Recurrence and First-Line Disease Control",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:21:26Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6yhp1r5tq6w9r",
  "venue": "Biomolecules",
  "versions": []
}