title: Clinicopathologic correlation of beclin-1 expression in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
abstract: Beclin-1 has emerged as an autophagy gene in a variety of human carcinomas. The aim of this study was to evaluate beclin-1 expression and to determine its prognostic significance in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA). We performed immunohistochemical staining for beclin-1 in 63 cases of PDA. We investigated whether beclin-1 expression correlated with clinicopathologic characteristics and patient outcomes. Beclin-1 expression was absent in normal pancreatic islet cells, acinar cells, and ductal epithelial cells. In contrast, in PDA, beclin-1 showed positive immunoreactivity in 14 of 63 (22.2%) PDA cases, while the remaining 49 (77.8%) PDA cases exhibited negative beclin-1 expression. We found significant associations between increased beclin-1 expression and the absence of lymphatic invasion (P = 0.032) and low rate of distant metastasis (P = 0.001). Univariate analysis of survival showed that the median distant metastasis-free survival of beclin-1-negative PDA patients (10 months) was significantly shorter than that of beclin-1-positive PDA patients (21 months; P = 0.031). Our results suggest that increased beclin-1 expression plays a role in the inhibition of PDA progression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyung Hee University, 1 Hoegi-dong, Dongdaemun-gu, 130-702 Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Hyun-Soo
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Sun Ho
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Sung-Im
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Do
authors.forename: Sung-Jig
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Yong-Koo
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Youn Wha
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000071186:Beclin-1; D021441:Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010179:Pancreas / Q000473:pathology; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins; C491997:BECN1 protein, human; D000071186:Beclin-1; D008565:Membrane Proteins