Pleiotrophin and N-syndecan promote perineural invasion and tumor progression in an orthotopic mouse model of pancreatic cancer

Table 3 Associations between pleiotrophin and N-syndecan protein expression and perineural invasion in pancreatic cancer

Protein	PIN			P value
	0	1	2
PTN (+) (n = 24)	3	10	11	0.019
PTN (-) (n = 12)	6	4	2
N-syndecan (+) (n = 22)	2	8	12	0.032
N-syndecan (-) (n = 14)	6	5	3

PNI was scored as follows: 0, PNI was difficult to find, with ≤ one occurrence per slide; 1, PNI was easy to find, with two to four occurrences per slide; and 2, PNI was easy to find, with more than four occurrences per slide or intraneural invasion. PNI: Perineural invasion; PTN : Pleiotrophin.