ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the correlation of clinicopathological parameters and prognosis with serum and pancreatic cancer tissue klotho. Methods Immunohistochemistry EnVision two step method was used to assess klotho protein expression of a tissue microarray ( TMA) of 79 pairs of pancreatic tissue and normal surrounding tissue. The serum klotho levels in 39 pancreatic cancer patients and 39 healthy controls who had matched clinical data were measured by ELISA. The relationships between the expression of klotho and the clinicopathological features and survival were analyzed. Results Klotho expression positivity in pancreatic cancer tissue was significantly higher than that in adjacent normal tissues (59. 5％ vs 96. 3％);serum level of klotho was markedly higher in pancreatic cancer patients than that in control group [(670. 30 ± 82. 24)pg/ml vs (310.35 ± 34.65) pg/ml], and both the difference was statistically significant (P<0.001). Klotho expression was negatively associated with tumor clinical stage and lymph node metastasis (P<0. 05), and the expression of klotho did not correlate with patients' gender, age, tumor size, location, local invasion depth and the like. The median survival time in pancreatic cancer patients with positive klotho expression were longer than that in in pancreatic cancer patients with negative klotho expression [(48. 31 ± 6. 94) months vs (19. 50 ±6. 78)months], and the difference was statistically significant (P<0. 01). ROC analysis on serum klotho gave a cutoff value of 376. 51 pg/ml to diagnosis pancreatic cancer with a sensitivity of 84. 6％ and specificity of 87. 2％. Conclusions Klotho level in serum and tissue of pancreatic cancer patients was closely correlated with clinicopathological parameters and prognosis, which may be a potential biomarker for pancreatic cancer.