title: Expression and clinical significance of pepsinogen C in resectable pancreatic cancer.
abstract: Pepsinogen C is an aspartyl-proteinase usually involved in the digestion of proteins in the stomach, and an androgen- inducible protein in breast cancer cells. In this study we evaluated its expression and clinical significance in patients with resectable pancreatic cancer. Pepsinogen C expression was examined by immunohistochemical methods in a series of 73 pancreatic carcinomas. The prognostic value of pepsinogen C was retrospectively evaluated by multivariate analysis. A total of 21 (28.8%) pancreatic carcinomas stained positively for pepsinogen C. The percentage of pepsinogen C-positive tumors was significantly higher in well-differentiated tumors (38.3%) than in moderately differentiated (15.8%) and poorly differentiated (O%) tumors (p<0.05). In addition, statistical analysis revealed that pepsinogen C expression was associated with clinical outcome. Thus, patients with pepsinogen C-negative tumors have a poorer overall survival than those with pepsinogen C-positive tumors. Our results led us to consider that the expression of pepsinogen C may represent a useful biological marker in pancreatic cancer. Expression of this protein may be a marker of gastric-type differentiation of the tumors and it might also reflect the existence of a complete hormone receptor pathway in a subset of pancreatic carcinomas.
authors: Department of General Surgery, Hospital de Jove, Gijón, Spain.
authors: N
authors: N
authors: Truan
authors: F
authors: F
authors: Vizoso
authors: M F
authors: MF
authors: Fresno
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Fernández
authors: I
authors: I
authors: Quintela
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Alexandre
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Martínez
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000201:enzymology / Q000601:surgery; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000601:surgery; D020115:Pepsinogen C / Q000378:metabolism*; D011379:Prognosis
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D020115:Pepsinogen C