Relationship between the expression of high mobility group protein B1 and blood-borne metastasis in pancreatic carcinoma / 中华胰腺病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the correlation of the expression of high mobility group protein B1 (HMGB1) and blood-borne metastasis in patients with pancreatic carcinoma. Methods The serum HMGB1 levels were determined by Western blot analysis in 68 patients with pancreatic cancer, 18 patients with chronic pancreatitis and 21 healthy controls. Among the 68 patients with pancreatic cancer, the serum HMGB1 levels of 37 patients before and after operation were compared. The expression of HMGB1 and CD31 were detected by immunohistochemistry in 67 patients with pancreatic carcinoma. Results The serum HMGB1 levels in patients with pancreatic cancer was (119.7±54.5) ng/ml, which was significantly higher than (40.2±25.5) ng/ml in chronic pancreatitis (P<0.001) and (13.1±4.3) ng/ml in healthy control (P< 0.001). The serum HMGB1 levels in patients with pancreatic cancer before operation was (120.2±8.2) ng/ml, which was significantly higher than (69.3±5.1) ng/ml after operation (P <0.001). The expression rate of HMGB1 in pancreatic cancer tissues was 43.6%. The expression of HMGB1 were significantly related with tumor differentiation, TNM stage, blood-borne metastasis, and vascular density(P <0.01). The HMGB1 positive tumor cells were adjacent to the blood vessels with lumen, and the rate of HMGB1 expression in intravascular tumor cells was 71%. Conclusions The HMGB1 was highly expressed in pancreatic cancer tissues. HMGB1 expression positive pancreatic carcinoma cells were prone to invade blood vessels with lumen which may be related to blood-borne metastasis in pancreatic cancer.