Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
World J Gastroenterol. Jun 14, 2026; 32(22): 118323
Published online Jun 14, 2026. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v32.i22.118323
Published online Jun 14, 2026. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v32.i22.118323
Serial circulating tumor DNA as a biomarker for monitoring and prognostication in patients with pancreatic cancer
Kwangrok Jung, Jongchan Lee, Dayeon Jang, Jinwoo Ahn, Bomi Kim, Soomin Yang, Jae Hyeong Kim, Yuna Youn, Jong-Chan Lee, Jaihwan Kim, Jin-Hyeok Hwang, Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seongnam-si 13620, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
Co-first authors: Kwangrok Jung and Jongchan Lee.
Author contributions: Jung K and Lee J contributed equally to this work as co-first authors. Jung K and Lee J conceived and designed the study, conducted the investigation and developed the methodology, curated the data and prepared the visualizations; Jung K, Lee J, Jang D, and Ahn J performed the formal analysis; Jung K, Lee J, and Jang D drafted the original manuscript; Ahn J, Kim B, Yang S, Kim JH, and Youn Y participated in data curation and validation; Lee JC and Kim J provided resources; Hwang JH conceptualized and supervised the study, acquired funding, administered the project, and critically reviewed and revised the manuscript; All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by National Research Foundation of Korea, No. RS-2021-NR059201; and the Seoul National University Bundang Hospital Research Fund, No. 06-2019-0069.
Institutional review board statement: The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Seoul National University Bundang Hospital (No. B-1901-517-003) and conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardians, provided written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: To obtain the supporting data from this research, interested parties can submit a reasonable request to the corresponding author (woltoong@snu.ac.kr) for consideration. All requests will be reviewed, and the data will be shared for non-commercial, academic research purposes only, with all patients anonymized to protect patient confidentiality.
Corresponding author: Jin-Hyeok Hwang, Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, 82, Gumi-ro 173 Beon-gil, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si 13620, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. woltoong@snu.ac.kr
Received: December 30, 2025
Revised: January 30, 2026
Accepted: March 18, 2026
Published online: June 14, 2026
Processing time: 151 Days and 1.8 Hours
Revised: January 30, 2026
Accepted: March 18, 2026
Published online: June 14, 2026
Processing time: 151 Days and 1.8 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: This study highlights the emerging role of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) as a clinically relevant biomarker in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. ctDNA offers a minimally invasive approach for serial disease monitoring and may provide complementary information to conventional imaging and tumor markers for treatment assessment and prognostication. In the setting of limited effective biomarkers for this malignancy, ctDNA represents a promising tool for improving clinical management.