Affiliations: [a] Research Laboratory of Hepatobiliary Diseases, Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China | [b] Department of Pathology, Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China | [c] Department of Pathology, Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Daiqiang Li, Department of Pathology, Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, 139 Renmin Road, Changsha, Hunan 410011, China. Tel.: +86 731 88187376; Fax: +86 731 85292139; E-mail:lidqxf@163.com
Abstract: This study investigated the KLF4 and BIRC7 protein expression in malignant
and benign pancreatic tissues by immunohistochemical staining and the
clinical and pathological significance of KLF4 and BIRC7 expression in PDAC.
KLF4 expression was significantly lower, whereas BIRC7 expression was
significantly higher in PDAC than that in peritumoral tissue, benign
pancreatic lesions, and normal pancreatic tissue (P < 0.01). The percentage
of positive BIRC7 and negative KLF4 expression was significantly lower in
PDAC patients with well differentiated tumors, maximum tumor size < 3 cm, no
lymph node metastasis, no invasion to the surrounding tissues and organs,
and TNM stage I/II stage disease than in patients with poorly
differentiated tumor, maximum tumor size > 5 cm, lymph node metastasis,
invasion to surrounding tissues and organs, and TNM stage III/IV disease (P
< 0.05 or P < 0.01). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that the
differentiation, maximum tumor size, TNM stage, lymph node metastasis,
invasion, negative KLF4 expression, and positive BIRC7 expression were
significantly associated with the short survival of patients with PDAC (P
< 0.05 or P < 0.01). Cox multivariate analysis revealed that positive
BIRC7 expression and negative KLF4 expression were independent poor
prognosis factors in PDAC patients. In conclusions, positive BIRC7 expression
and negative KLF4 expression are associated with the progression of PDAC and
poor prognosis in patients with PDAC.
