Our findings that tissue TIMP1, MMP7, TSP2, and CCN2 and plasma TIMP1, MMP7, and TSP2 were elevated in association with PanIN development, in both KC and KPC mice, suggest that they appear in the early pre‐invasive stage of the disease and can truly detect PDAC prior to the development of clinical symptoms and in lesions with different mutational status. This evidence concerns the gene TIMP1 and keratoconus.