Expresstion And Clinical Significance Of MUC4 In Pancreatic Cancer

Objective:To detect the expression of MUC4 in pancreatic cancer and discuss its relationship with clinical factors.Methods:The expression of MUC4 was detected by immunehistochemical Envision two step staining method in 53 cases of pancreatic cancer and the paired para-carcinoma tissues,9 cases of chronic pancreatitis.The relationship between MUC4 expression and clinical characteristics,including tumor differentiation,tumor staging and survival time,was analyzed.Results:Immunehistochemical analysis showed positive expression of MUC4 in 43 out of the 53 cases of pancreatic cancer(85.5%),and in 2 out of the 9 cases of chronic pancreatitis(14.5%),and all negative expression of MUC4 in the paired para-carcinoma tissues(0%).The positive rate of the MUC4 expression in pancreatic cancer was significantly higher than in the paired para-carcinoma tissues and in chronic pancreatitis(P＜0.05).No relationship was detected between MUC4 expression and clinical factors such as gender,age,tumor location,tumor size,lymph node metastasis,tumor differentiation,the staging of the tumor(P＞0.05).Univariate and multivariate analyses of survival both have showed that the higher expression of MUC4 had a poorer prognosis(P＜0.05).Conclusions:MUC4 might be a specific tumor marker of pancreatic cancer. Overexpression of MUC4 in pancreatic cancer may be used as a diagnostic marker of pancreatic cancer,and expression of MUC4 may be used as a parameter for differentiating pancreatic carcinoma from chronic pancreatitis.It could also be considered as a prognostic factor for postoperation.