Prognostic significance of maspin in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
BACKGROUND
Maspin is a serpin family of protease inhibitors. Althouth maspin has been considered a tumor suppressor that inhibits the motility, invasion, and metastasis of breast and prostatic cancer cells, there are many conflicting reports about maspin expression and cancer prognosis.


METHODS
To investigate whether the expression of maspin could be used as a prognostic marker in pancreatic cancer, 72 paraffin-embedded pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas were analyzed using immunohistochemistry. We examined the prognostic value of maspin as well as its relationship with clinicopathological features.


RESULTS
Maspin expression was observed in all pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Unlike cancer tissues, however, faint or no expression was observed in the corresponding normal pancreatic tissues. In the Cox proportional hazard model, high maspin expression predicted a high hazard rate. Maspin expression had a positive correlation with tumor stage, but there were also no statistically significant relationships between maspin expression and other clinicopathological features.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest maspin expression to have biological relevance in the progression of pancreatic cancers, with potential use as a prognostic marker for pancreatic neoplasm with epithelial origin.
Lim
Yun Jeong
YJ
Center for Health promotion, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Lee
Jong Kyun
JK
Jang
Woo Young
WY
Song
Sang Yong
SY
Lee
Kyu Taek
KT
Paik
Seung Woon
SW
Rhee
Jong Chul
JC
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers; D021441:Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D016147:Genes, Tumor Suppressor; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000601:surgery; D011379:Prognosis; D011506:Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D015843:Serpins / Q000378:metabolism*
D015415:Biomarkers; D011506:Proteins; C085344:SERPIN-B5; D015843:Serpins