Overexpression of FOXM1 is associated with poor prognosis and clinicopathologic stage of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

OBJECTIVES

Oncogenic transcription factor forkhead box M1 (FoxM1)-related clinicopathologic characteristics and prognosis of patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) have not been identified. Our aim of studying FoxM1 expression level and survival rate of PDA is to determine whether FoxM1 is a valuable prognostic predictor for PDA patients.

METHODS

Expressional levels of FoxM1 mRNA and protein in paired pancreatic cancer lesions and adjacent noncancerous tissues were examined by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting. FoxM1 expression was analyzed by immunohistochemistry in 80 patients with PDA. The correlations between FoxM1 immunostaining levels and clinicopathologic factors, as well as the follow-up data of patients, were analyzed statistically.

RESULTS

FoxM1 protein and mRNA levels were elevated in pancreatic carcinoma lesions compared with the paired adjacent noncancerous tissues. A high level of expression of FoxM1 was significantly correlated with clinical staging (P = 0.004), lymph node metastasis (P = 0.009), and histological differentiation (P = 0.017). Patients with a higher FoxM1 expression had a significantly shorter survival time than those patients with lower FoxM1 expression (P < 0.001). The multivariate analysis revealed that FoxM1 could serve as an independent factor of poor prognosis.

CONCLUSIONS

Our finding indicates that FoxM1 could be used as prognostic molecular marker and therapeutic target for PDA.