Clinicopathological significances of Feline sarcoma-related protein and β2-adrenoceptor expression in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas.

Introduction: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a highly malignant tumor with a high mortality, but biomarkers for its diagnosis, target therapy, and prognosis are not clinically available.

Materials And Methods: In the present study, Feline sarcoma-related protein (Fer) and ADRB2 protein expression was detected by immunohistochemistry.

Results And Discussion: Comparing with the peritumoral tissues, benign pancreatic tissues, and normal pancreatic tissues, Fer and ADRB2 protein was overexpressed in PDAC tumor tissues (P < 0.01). The percentage of patients with positive Fer and ADRB2 expression were significantly lower in PDAC without lymph node metastasis, without invasion to surrounding tissues and organs, and with low TNM stage (I/II stage) disease compared to PDAC patients with metastasis, invasion, and high TNM stage (III/IV) disease. PDAC patients with positive Fer or ADRB2 protein expression survived significantly shorter time than patients with negative Fer or ADRB2 protein expression (P = 0.000). Positive Fer and ADRB2 protein expression was an independent factor for poor prognosis of PDAC patients and ROC curve analysis showed that positive Fer and ADRB2 protein expression was sensitive and specific marker for the PDAC diagnosis. In conclusion, positive Fer and ADRB2 expression is associated with carcinogenesis of PDAC, disease progression, and poor prognosis of PDAC patients.