[1402] The Importance of NFKappa-B and COX-2 Expressions in Pancreatic Adenocarcinomas
S Erdamar, O Aydin, A Dirican, G Dogusoy, S Goksel. Cerrahpasa Medical College, Istanbul, Turkey
Background: It's thought that NFKappa
B plays an important role regulation of apoptosis and also in angiogenesis, invasion. COX-2 is transcriptionally activated by NFkappa-B. We aimed to analyse the prognostic significance of NFkappa-B and COX-2 expression in pancreatic adenocarcinomas.
Design: We analyzed 65 patients with resectable ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreas that had undergone a pancreaticoduodenectomy at Cerrahpasa Medical College, Istanbul, between 2003 and 2007. Tissue microarray (TMA) blocks were built using representative tumor blocks for each case. TMA blocks were cut in 4 microns and sections were immunostained with commercially obtained antibodies for COX-2 and NFKappa-B. The survival associated with both antibody expression was assessed by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression models that controlled for other known prognostic factors associated with pancreas cancer mortality.
Results: The mean age was 62,3 (32-85) in our study group. Mean survival was 22,5 months (1-105). Mean tumor size was 3,5 cm (0,6-11 cm). We found expression of COX-2 was upregulated in 43 of 65 cases (67%) and the expression of COX-2 was associated with the diameter (> 3 cm) of the tumors (p < 0.05), but not with the age, gender, tumor location, differentiation, lymph-node metastases and TNM stage. Expression of NFKappa-B was observed in 42 of 65 cases and its expression was more frequent in invasive components than in intraductal components. Expression of NFKappa-B was associated with metastasis to lymph nodes and other organs. A correlation was also found between NFKappa-B expression and the COX-2 in the tumour.
Conclusions: The increased expression of COX-2 may be responsible for rapid proliferation of pancreatic cancer. NFKappa-B play an important role in neoplastic spread through lymph node involvement.
Category: Liver & Pancreas
Wednesday, March 11, 2009 9:30 AM
Poster Session V # 232, Wednesday Morning