Suzuoki M, Miyamoto M, Kato K, Hiraoka K, Oshikiri T, Nakakubo Y, Fukunaga A, Shichinohe T, Shinohara T, Itoh T, Kondo S, Katoh H
Department of Surgical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Kita-15, Nishi-7, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8638 Japan.
Br J Cancer. 2002 Nov 4;87(10):1140-4. doi: 10.1038/sj.bjc.6600619.
Caveolin-1 is a major component of caveolae and plays a regulatory role in several signalling pathways. Caveolin-1 was recently identified as a metastasis-related gene in prostate cancer. The clinical effects of caveolin-1 expression in pancreatic carcinoma, however, remain unknown. In this study, we have investigated the relationship between caveolin-1 expression and the clinicopathologic variables and clinical outcome in 79 patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma undergoing surgical resection. Caveolin-1 expression was determined by immunohistochemistry, using a polyclonal anti-caveolin-1 antibody. Patients were divided into two groups based on the extent of caveolin-1 expression: a negative expression group (immunoreactivity in less than 50% of cells) and a positive expression group. Positive caveolin-1 immunostaining was detected in 32 cases (40.5% of total), while non-neoplastic ductal epithelium showed little or no staining. Positive caveolin-1 expression was correlated with tumour diameter (P=0.0079), histopathologic grade (P=0.0272) and poor prognosis (P=0.0008). Upon multivariate analysis with Cox's proportional hazards model, positive caveolin-1 expression was shown to be an independent negative predictor for survival (P=0.0358). These results suggest that caveolin-1 overexpression is associated with tumour progression, thereby indicating a poor prognosis for certain patients undergoing surgical resection for pancreatic carcinoma.
