MUC4 expression is a novel prognostic factor in patients with invasive ductal carcinoma of the pancreas.
BACKGROUND
Many patients with invasive ductal carcinoma of the pancreas (IDC) have a poor outcome. MUC4 expression has been implicated as a marker for diagnosis and progression of IDC, but there are no studies of the relation between MUC4 expression and patient prognosis in IDC.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the prognostic significance of MUC4 expression in IDC.


METHODS
The expression profiles of MUC4, ErbB2, p27, and MUC1 were investigated in IDC tissues from 135 patients by means of immunohistochemistry.


RESULTS
MUC4 was expressed in 43 of the 135 patients with IDC (31.9%). The survival of 21 patients with high MUC4 expression (>20% of neoplastic cells stained) was significantly worse than that of the 114 patients with low MUC4 expression (<20% of neoplastic cells stained) (p = 0.0043). Univariate analysis showed that high MUC4 expression (p = 0.0061), large primary tumour status (>T2) (p = 0.0436), distant metastasis (p = 0.0383), lymphatic invasion (p = 0.0243), and surgical margins (p = 0.0333) were significant risk factors affecting the outcome of patients with IDC. Backward stepwise multivariate analysis showed that MUC4 expression (p = 0.0121), lymph node metastasis (p = 0.0245), and lymphatic invasion (p = 0.0239) were significant independent risk factors. ErbB2, p27, and MUC1 were not independent risk factors.


CONCLUSIONS
This study shows that MUC4 expression in IDC is a new independent factor for poor prognosis and predicts the outcome of patients with IDC.
Saitou
M
M
Department of Human Pathology, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Kagoshima 890-8544, Japan.
Goto
M
M
Horinouchi
M
M
Tamada
S
S
Nagata
K
K
Hamada
T
T
Osako
M
M
Takao
S
S
Batra
S K
SK
Aikou
T
T
Imai
K
K
Yonezawa
S
S
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D021441:Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055264:Mucin-4; D009077:Mucins / Q000378:metabolism*; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D010179:Pancreas / Q000378:metabolism; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis; D012307:Risk Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C524658:MUC4 protein, human; D055264:Mucin-4; D009077:Mucins; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins