Expression of the G2-M modulators in pancreatic adenocarcinoma.
BACKGROUND
Cell-proliferating activity is one of the prominent parameters for evaluating the biological aggressiveness of carcinomas. Pancreatic adenocarcinoma has been studied to identify modulators of the G1-S boundary. In the present study we investigated the modulators of another important checkpoint, the G2-M checkpoint.


METHODS
We immunohistochemically studied three representative G2-M modulators, cdc2, cyclin A and cyclin B1 in 62 pancreatic adenocarcinomas and 7 cystadenomas.


RESULTS
Overexpression of cdc2, cyclin A and cyclin B1, was observed in 54.8, 54.9 and 56.4%, respectively, of the pancreatic adenocarcinomas. cdc2 overexpression was directly related to lymph node metastasis, Ki-67 labeling index (LI), and cyclin A overexpression which was significantly linked to the stage, carcinoma differentiation, tumor size, and lymphatic invasion. On the other hand, cyclin B1 was not linked to clinicopathological parameters including Ki-67 LI and cdc2 overexpression, except for tumor size.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings suggest that cdc2 and cyclin A play a role in the progression of pancreatic adenocarcinoma, while the clinical significance of cyclin B1 remains to be clarified because of its more random expression.
Department of Surgery, Osaka Seamen's Insurance Hospital, Department of Pathology, School of Allied Health Science, Osaka University Faculty of Medicine, Osaka, Japan.
Yasuhiro
Y
Ito
Tsutomu
T
Takeda
Ken-ichi
K
Wakasa
Masahiko
M
Tsujimoto
Masanao
M
Okada
Nariaki
N
Matsuura
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016203:CDC2 Protein Kinase / Q000378:metabolism*; D019925:Cyclin A / Q000378:metabolism*; D019926:Cyclin B / Q000378:metabolism*; D056744:Cyclin B1; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology
C534699:CCNB1 protein, human; D019925:Cyclin A; D019926:Cyclin B; D056744:Cyclin B1; D016203:CDC2 Protein Kinase