title: Expression and clinical significance of HSPA2 in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It has been shown that heat shock-related 70-kDa protein 2 (HSPA2), a member of the HSP70 family of heat shock proteins, is important for cancer cell growth and metastasis. However, the status of HSPA2 expression and its prognostic significance in pancreatic cancer remain unknown.
  
  
  METHODS
  Quantitative reverse transcriptase ploymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was applied to examine HSPA2 messenger RNA (mRNA) expression in 104 pairs of pancreatic cancer tissues and adjacent noncancerous tissues. Statistical analyses were applied to evaluate the diagnostic value and associations of HSPA2 expression with clinicopathological characteristics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  HSPA2 mRNA was significantly overexpressed in pancreatic cancer tissues (3.9 ± 0.8) than in adjacent normal tissues (1.1 ± 0.4) (P < 0.001). Clinicopathological analysis showed that HSPA2 expression was significantly correlated with tumor size (P = 0.024), histological differentiation (P = 0.012), TNM stage (P = 0.006), lymph node metastasis (P = 0.043) and serum CA19-9 level (P = 0.046). Moreover, patients with higher HSPA2 expression levels had shorter overall survival time than those with lower HSPA2 expression levels (P = 0.019). Furthermore, Cox regression analyses showed that HSPA2 expression was an independent predictor of overall survival (P = 0.011).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that overexpression of HSPA2 in pancreatic cancer is associated with aggressive progression and poor prognosis and that HSPA2 may be served as a prognostic marker.
  The virtual slide(s) for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/5988744821527257 .
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Air Force General Hospital of PLA, Beijing, 100142, China. dr_hui_zhang@163.com.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, the fourth people's hospital of Jinan, Jinan, 250031, China. hongl_gao@yeah.net.
authors.forename: Hongli
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Air Force General Hospital of PLA, Beijing, 100142, China. liu_chengli@126.com.
authors.forename: Chengli
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Air Force General Hospital of PLA, Beijing, 100142, China. yalin_kong@yeah.net.
authors.forename: Yalin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Air Force General Hospital of PLA, Beijing, 100142, China. cheng_wang_bj@163.com.
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Air Force General Hospital of PLA, Beijing, 100142, China. prof_hy_zhang@163.com.
authors.forename: Hongyi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood; D018395:CA-19-9 Antigen / Q000097:blood; D021441:Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality / Q000556:secondary; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D047368:Tumor Burden; D015854:Up-Regulation
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D018395:CA-19-9 Antigen; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins; C091879:HSPA2 protein, human; D012333:RNA, Messenger