1. A method for increasing the likelihood of 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, wherein the specimen is selected from the group consisting of pancreatic ductal epithelium, pancreatic juice, and pancreatic tissue, and wherein further the at least one gene is selected from the group consisting of CDH3, reprimo, CLDN5, DR3, FOXE1, LDOC1, LHX1, NEFH, NPTX2, PIG11, SARP2, ST14, SMARCA1, TJP2, and WNT7A, or a combination thereof; and b) identifying aberrant methylation of CpG islands in regions of the gene or regulatory region, wherein aberrant methylation is identified as hypermethylation of the CpG islands when compared to the same CpG islands in regions of the gene or associated regulatory region in a subject not having the pancreatic carcinoma, thereby increasing the likelihood of detecting pancreatic carcinoma in the subject.