1. A method for detecting pancreatic carcinoma in a subject comprising: a) contacting a nucleic acid-containing specimen from the subject with an agent that provides a determination of the methylation state of at least one gene or associated regulatory region of the gene; and b) identifying aberrant methylation of regions of the gene or regulatory region, wherein aberrant methylation is identified as being different when compared to the same regions of the gene or associated regulatory region in a subject not having the pancreatic carcinoma, thereby detecting pancreatic carcinoma in the subject.