title: Expression and significance of CD44 and p-AKT in pancreatic head cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  CD44 and phosphorylated AKT (p-AKT) is a potentially interesting prognostic marker and therapeutic target in pancreatic cancer. The expression of CD44 and p-AKT has been reported to correlate with poor prognosis of pancreatic cancer in most literatures. The purpose of this study is to investigate the roles of CD44 and p-AKT in pancreatic head cancer and their correlation with the prognosis of pancreatic head cancer patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-eight pancreatic head cancer samples were collected dating from Jan. 2010 to Dec. 2012. Immunohistochemistry was applied to test the expression of CD44 and p-AKT in pancreatic head cancer. The clinical data of the patients were collected including their gender, age, the histology and location, lymph node metastasis, and so on. The correlation between the CD44 expression and the clinicopathological factors of patients with pancreatic head cancer was analyzed by the software SPSS 13.0.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The positive rates of CD44 and p-AKT expression in the samples were 64.6 and 29.2 %, respectively. There was a significant difference between the CD44 expression and the pancreatic cancer' T staging, tumor node metastasis (TNM) staging, lymph node metastasis (P < 0.05). The Cox proportional hazard model showed that CD44 and lymph node metastasis were independent prognostic factors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CD44 was related to the distant metastasis and aggressive malignant behaviors of pancreatic head cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Xinhua Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, 200092, China. lxpyahoo@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xiaoping
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Cancer Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China. helili@ceair.com.
authors.forename: Zhang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xiaowei
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Xinhua Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, 200092, China. lxpmy@sohu.com.
authors.forename: Zheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Leizhen
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Cancer Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China. gxmlxp@sohu.com.
authors.forename: Guo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Weijian
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018960:Hyaluronan Receptors / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D018960:Hyaluronan Receptors; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt