Immune Cell and Stromal Signature Associated With Progression-Free Survival of Patients With Resected Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma.

Background & Aims: Changes to the microenvironment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDACs) have been associated with poor outcomes of patients. We studied the associations between composition of the pancreatic stroma (fibrogenic, inert, dormant, or fibrolytic stroma) and infiltration by inflammatory cells and times of progression-free survival (PFS) of patients with PDACs after resection.

Methods: We obtained 1824 tissue microarray specimens from 385 patients included in the European Study Group for Pancreatic Cancer trial 1 and 3 and performed immunohistochemistry to detect alpha smooth muscle actin, type 1 collagen, CD3, CD4, CD8, CD68, CD206, and neutrophils.