Pancreas duodenal homeobox-1 expression and significance in pancreatic cancer.

Aim: To study the correlations of Pancreas duodenal homeobox-1 with pancreatic cancer characteristics, including pathological grading, TNM grading, tumor metastasis and tumor cell proliferation.

Methods: Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to detect PDX-1 mRNA expression in pancreatic cancer tissue and normal pancreatic tissue. The expression of PDX-1 protein was measured by Western blot and immunohistochemistry. Immunohistochemistry was also used to detect proliferative cell nuclear antigen (PCNA). Correlations of PDX-1 with pancreatic cancer characteristics, including pathological grading, TNM grading, tumor metastasis and tumor cell proliferation, were analyzed by using c2 test.

Results: Immunohistochemistry showed that 41.1% of pancreatic cancers were positive for PDX-1 expression, but normal pancreatic tissue except islets showed no staining for PDX-1. In consistent with the result of imunohistochemistry, Western blot showed that 37.5% of pancreatic cancers were positive for PDX-1. RT-PCR showed that PDX-1 expression was significantly higher in pancreatic cancer tissues than normal pancreatic tissues (2(-3.56 +/- 0.35) vs 2(-8.76 +/- 0.14), P < 0.01). Lymph node metastasis (P < 0.01), TNM grading (P < 0.05), pathological grading (P < 0.05) and tumor cell proliferation (P < 0.01) were significantly correlated with PDX-1 expression levels.

Conclusion: PDX-1 is re-expressed in pancreatic cancer, and PDX-1-positive pancreatic cancer cells show more malignant potential compared to PDX-1-negative cells. Therefore, PDX-1-positive cells may be tumor stem cells and PDX-1 may act as alternate surface marker of pancreatic cancer stem cells.