Syndecan-1 expression in gallbladder cancer and its prognostic significance.
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether the immunohistochemical detection of syndecan-1 could provide useful information as a novel therapeutic or prognostic factor in primary gallbladder (GB) cancer.


METHODS
Forty-three GB cancer tissues were evaluated by immunohistochemistry for syndecan-1 expression. The relationship between syndecan-1 expression and clinicopathological characteristics, and the univariate survival analysis for the influence of the syndecan-1 expression on the overall survival were analysed.


RESULTS
Epithelial syndecan-1 immunoreactivity was observed in 25 (58.1%) of the 43 GB cancer cases. The tumors with a positive syndecan-1 expression more frequently showed lymph node metastasis (p = 0.037). Although there was no statistically significant association, the tumors with a positive syndecan-1 expression tended to show a deeper invasion depth (p = 0.087) and more frequent lymphovascular invasion (p = 0.064). The Kaplan-Meier survival curves demonstrated that patients with positive syndecan-1 expression had a significantly shorter survival time than those patients with negative syndecan-1 expression (p = 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
A subset of GB cancers revealed an epithelial overexpression of syndecan-1, which was associated with a progressive pathological feature and an aggressive clinical course. Therefore, epithelial syndecan-1 expression may be a predictor for a poor prognosis in patients with GB cancer.
Department of Surgery, Dong-A University College of Medicine, Busan, Korea. msroh@dau.ac.kr
Y H
YH
Roh
Y H
YH
Kim
H J
HJ
Choi
K E
KE
Lee
M S
MS
Roh
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D005706:Gallbladder Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D053668:Syndecan-1 / Q000378:metabolism*
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C508241:SDC1 protein, human; D053668:Syndecan-1