Randomized Controlled Trial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jun 7, 2017; 23(21): 3907-3914
Published online Jun 7, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i21.3907
Pleiotrophin and N-syndecan promote perineural invasion and tumor progression in an orthotopic mouse model of pancreatic cancer
Jun Yao, Lu-Lin Zhang, Xu-Mei Huang, Wen-Yao Li, She-Gan Gao
Jun Yao, Lu-Lin Zhang, Wen-Yao Li, She-Gan Gao, Henan Key Laboratory of Cancer Epigenetics, Cancer Institute, the First Affiliated Hospital and College of Clinical Medicine of Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang 471003, Henan Province, China
Xu-Mei Huang, Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center; UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, United States
Author contributions: Yao J and Zhang LL contributed equally to this work; Yao J, Zhang LL and Li WY designed the research; Zhang LL performed the research; Huang XM and Gao SG provided some reagents; Huang XM and Gao SG analyzed the data; Yao J and Zhang LL wrote the paper.
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. U1204819; Health Science and Technology Innovation Talents Program of Henan Province, No. 4203.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of the First Affiliated Hospital and College of Clinical Medicine of Henan University of Science and Technology.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article are reported.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. She-Gan Gao, Henan Key Laboratory of Cancer Epigenetics, Cancer Institute, the First Affiliated Hospital and College of Clinical Medicine of Henan University of Science and Technology, 24 Jinghua Road, Jianxi District, Luoyang 471003, Henan Province, China. hospitalluo@163.com
Telephone: +86-379-64815783 Fax: +86-379-64815783
Received: September 16, 2016
Peer-review started: September 18, 2016
First decision: October 10, 2016
Revised: October 27, 2016
Accepted: December 8, 2016
Article in press: December 8, 2016
Published online: June 7, 2017
Processing time: 263 Days and 10.6 Hours
Abstract
AIM

To detect the expression of pleiotrophin (PTN) and N-syndecan in pancreatic cancer and analyze their association with tumor progression and perineural invasion (PNI).

METHODS

An orthotopic mouse model of pancreatic cancer was created by injecting tumor cells subcapsularly in a root region of the pancreas beneath the spleen. Pancreatic cancer tissues were taken from 36 mice that survived for more than 90 d. PTN and N-syndecan proteins were detected by immunohistochemistry and analyzed for their correlation with pathological features, PNI, and prognosis.

RESULTS

The expression rates of PTN and N-syndecan proteins were 66.7% and 61.1%, respectively, in cancer tissue. PTN and N-syndecan expression was associated with PNI (P = 0.019 and P = 0.032, respectively). High PTN expression was closely associated with large bloody ascites (P = 0.009), liver metastasis (P = 0.035), and decreased survival time (P = 0.022). N-syndecan expression was significantly associated with tumor size (P = 0.025), but not with survival time (P = 0.539).

CONCLUSION

High PTN and N-syndecan expression was closely associated with metastasis and poor prognosis, suggesting that they may promote tumor progression and PNI in the orthotopic mouse model of pancreatic cancer.

Keywords: Pleiotrophin; N-syndecan; Pancreatic cancer; Perineural invasion

Core tip: Perineural invasion (PNI) is a primary cause of local recurrence and poor survival in patients with pancreatic cancer. However, the exact mechanism of PNI remains unclear. Pleiotrophin (PTN) and its receptor, N-syndecan, may play an important role in tumor growth and PNI of pancreatic cancer. In a previous study, we found that high expression of PTN and N-syndecan may contribute to increased PNI and poor prognosis in patients with pancreatic cancer. In this study, we further elucidated the function of PTN and N-syndecan using an orthotopic mouse model of pancreatic cancer. We demonstrated that PTN and N-syndecan promoted tumor progression and PNI.