Moreover, a panel including carbohydrate antigen 19-9, apolipoprotein A-IV and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 1 showed better performance for distinguishing early pancreatic cancer from pancreatitis (Area under the curve = 0.934, 86% sensitivity at fixed 90% specificity) than carbohydrate antigen 19-9 alone (71% sensitivity). Here, TIMP1 is linked to pancreatic neoplasm.