Role of Notch-3 in epithelial-mesenchymal transition and prognosis of pancreatic cancer patients / 中华肝胆外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the function of Notch-3 in epithelial-mesenchymal transition(EMT) and prognosis of pancreatic cancer patients.Methods Patients who received radical resection for pancreatic cancer in our hospital between January 2004 and October 2012 were included in this study.Immunohistochemical staining was performed with Notch-3,E-cadherin and Vimentin antibodies.Imaging pro plus 3.0 was used for analyzing the staining intensity.Survival analysis was performed using Kaplan-Meier method.Results Sixty-seven patients were included.Low expression of E-cadherin was detected in 61.2％ (41/67) of patients,while high expression of Vimentin and Notch-3 was found in 65.6％ (44/67) and 59.7％ (40/67),respectively.Notch-3 expression was proportional to Vimentin expression (R2 =0.872,P ＜ O.05),while inversely proportional to E-cadherin expression (R2 =0.570,P ＜ 0.05).Median overall survival time in high expression group of E-cadherin,Vimentin and Notch-3 was (25.2 ± 2.3) months,(14.8 ±0.9) months and (15.8 ±0.8) months.While in low expression group,the median overall survival time was (14.3 ± 1.0) months,(25.5 ± 2.4) months and (25.1 ± 2.9) months,respectively.There were significant differences between these two groups (all P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions Notch-3 expression was associated with EMT process in pancreatic cancer patients.Low expression of E-cadherin and high expression of Vimentin and Notch-3 predicated poor prognosis of pancreatic cancer.