Early-stage pancreatic cancer samples also had a significantly higher concentration of methylated ZNF154 cfDNA fragments per mL of plasma than the normal controls (median normalized fragments = 18.6/mL plasma) suggesting that methylated ZNF154 cfDNA may be an effective marker for detection of earlier stage cancers in liquid biopsies. The gene discussed is ZNF154; the disease is familial pancreatic carcinoma.