ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the relationship between EphA2, EphrinAl and E-cadherin expressions and tumor stage and prognosis in pancreatic cancer. Method EphA2, EphrinAl and Ecadherin expressions were detected by immunohistochemistry in the tumor tissue and normal tissue specimens from 48 patients with primary pancreatic cancer. Results The expressions of EphA2 and EphrinAl were higher in the pancreatic carcinoma tissues than in the normal pancreatic tissues (P<0. 05). The E-cadherin expression was lower in the pancreatic cancer tissues than in the normal pancreatic tissues (P<0. 05). With decreasing histological differentiation, the expressions of EphA2 and EphrinAl in carcinoma tissues increased significantly (P<0. 05), while the E-cadherin expression decreased significantly (P<0. 05). The positive expressions of EphA2 and EphrinAl in the primary tumor significantly increased in stageⅢ and Ⅳ than in stage Ⅰ and Ⅱ (47. 9%vs 6. 25% , P<0. 05;47. 9% vs 8. 3%, P<0. 05), while the negative expression of E-cadherin was reversely correlated with these tumor stages (14. 6% vs 64. 6%, P<0. 05). Cox multivariate analysis showed that the clinical stage, EphA2 positive expression and E-cadherin negative expression were significantly associated with survival. Conclusion Abnormal expressions of EphA2, EphrinAl and E-cadherin were involved in the progression of pancreatic cancer and they were useful in predicting prognosis.