title: High expression of TROP2 correlates with poor prognosis in pancreatic cancer.
abstract: Pancreatic cancer is one of the most devastating human malignancies. Despite considerable research efforts, it remains resistant to almost all available treatment regimens. The human trophoblast cell-surface antigen, TROP2, was found to be strongly expressed in a variety of human epithelial cancers, correlating with aggressiveness and poor prognosis. TROP2 antigen expression was investigated retrospectively by immunohistochemistry in paraffin-embedded primary tumour tissue samples from a series (n=197) of consecutive patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Survival was calculated using Kaplan-Meier curves. Parameters found to be of prognostic significance in univariate analysis were verified in a multivariate Cox regression model. TROP2 overexpression was observed in 109 (55%) of 197 pancreatic cancer patients and was significantly associated with decreased overall survival (P<0.01). By univariate analysis, TROP2 overexpression was found to correlate with the presence of lymph node metastasis (P=0.04) and tumour grade (P=0.01). Furthermore, in the subgroup of patients treated surgically with curative intent, TROP2 overexpression significantly correlated with poor progression-free survival (P<0.01). Multivariate analyses revealed TROP2 to be an independent prognosticator. These findings suggest for the first time that TROP2 could be a novel prognostic biomarker for pancreatic cancer. Targeting TROP2 might be a useful treatment approach for patients with pancreatic cancer overexpressing this cell-surface marker.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology and Oncology, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck 6020, Austria. dominic.fong@i-med.ac.at
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fong
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Moser
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Krammel
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Gostner
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Margreiter
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mitterer
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gastl
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Spizzo
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules; C499380:TACSTD2 protein, human