Ezrin protein overexpression predicts the poor prognosis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas.

Ezrin, a member of the ezrin/radixin/moesin (ERM) protein family, plays an important role in tumor metastasis. Accumulating studies demonstrated that a high expression level of human ezrin has been correlated with numerous human malignancies. This study was aimed to explore the clinicopathological significance of ezrin protein expression in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDAC), and to further identify its role as a potential biomarker and therapeutic target of PDAC. Immunohistochemical (IHC) staining of ezrin protein was performed on 106 PDAC tissue samples and 37 adjacent and 21 normal pancreatic tissue samples. Additionally, localization of ezrin protein in Panc-1 PDAC cell line was observed using immunofluorescence (IF) staining. The correlation between ezrin overexpression and the clinicopathological features of PDAC was evaluated using Chi-square test, and differences in survival curves were analyzed using log-rank tests. In results, ezrin protein is widely distributed in the cytoplasm and membrane of PDAC cells by IHC and IF staining, but some cases showed a cell membrane staining pattern. The positive rate of ezrin protein expression was 82.1% (87/106) in PDAC, which was significantly higher than it in either adjacent pancreatic tissues (37.8%, 14/37) or normal pancreatic tissues (19.0%, 4/21). Overexpression of ezrin was closely related with larger tumor size, positive lymph node metastasis and advanced clinical stage. However, it was not correlated with patient age, gender, differentiation, Ki-67 expression index, and pancreas calcification point. Survival analysis showed that patients with ezrin high expression level had significantly lower overall survival rate than that with ezrin low expression level. Importantly, further analysis using a Cox proportional hazard regression model revealed that high ezrin expression emerged as a significant independent hazard factor for overall survival rates of patients with PDAC along with lymph node metastasis and TNM stage. In conclusion, ezrin protein played an important role in the progression of PDAC, and the overexpression of ezrin protein might be a useful prognostic marker of PDAC.

Piao J ，Liu S ，Xu Y ，Wang C ，Lin Z ，Qin Y ，Liu S ... -  《-》

Sineoculis homeobox homolog 1 protein overexpression as an independent biomarker for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Sineoculis homeobox homolog 1 (SIX1) is a member of the SIX gene family. It is highly expressed in cancers derived from tissues that play a fundamental role during embryogenesis. Recent studies suggest that inappropriate expression of SIX1 can both initiate tumorigenesis and promote metastasis. To investigate the clinicopathological significance of SIX1 expression in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), and to further identify its role as a potential biomarker and therapeutic target in PDAC, 103 PDAC tissue samples and 45 normal pancreatic tissue samples were immunohistochemically stained for SIX1 protein. The localization of SIX1 protein was detected in Panc-1 cancer cells using immunofluorescence staining. Correlations between SIX1 overexpression and the clinicopathological features of pancreatic cancer were evaluated using Chi-square (χ(2)) tests, differences in survival curves were analyzed using log-rank tests, and multivariate survival analysis was performed using the Cox proportional hazard regression model. In results, SIX1 protein showed mainly cytoplasmic/perinuclear staining pattern in PDAC with immunohistochemistry. The strongly positive rate of SIX1 protein was 60.2% (62/103) in PDAC, which was significantly higher than normal pancreatic tissue (6.7%, 3/45). SIX1 overexpression was positively correlated with tumor size, TNM stage, lymph node metastasis, and grade of PDAC (P < 0.001). SIX1 high expression levels influenced overall survival rates in G1, G2, stage I-II and stage III-IV groups of PDAC; and high expression levels had significantly lower overall survival rates than SIX1 low expression levels. In conclusion, SIX1 emerged as a significant independent prognostic factor in PDAC. SIX1 overexpression appears to be associated with PDAC, and may be a potential biomarker for early diagnosis and prognostic evaluation of PDAC.

Jin A ，Xu Y ，Liu S ，Jin T ，Li Z ，Jin H ，Lin L ，Lin Z ... -  《-》

DEK protein overexpression predicts poor prognosis in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Sun J ，Bi F ，Yang Y ，Zhang Y ，Jin A ，Li J ，Lin Z ... -  《-》

High expression of interleukin-22 and its receptor predicts poor prognosis in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Wen Z ，Liao Q ，Zhao J ，Hu Y ，You L ，Lu Z ，Jia C ，Wei Y ，Zhao Y ... -  《-》

Overexpression of B2M and loss of ALK7 expression are associated with invasion, metastasis, and poor-prognosis of the pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Liu C ，Yang Z ，Li D ，Liu Z ，Miao X ，Yang L ，Zou Q ，Yuan Y ... -  《-》