Expression of delta like ligand 4 in pancreatic cancer and its relationship with angiogenesis / 中华胰腺病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To detect the expression of delta-like ligand 4 (DLL4) and its relation with the angiogenesis in pancreatic cancer.Methods SP immunohistochemistry method was used to detect the expression of DLL4 in pancreatic cancer and para-cancerous tissue.The microvessel density (MVD) was calculated with CD34 staining for microvessel endothelium and the correlation between expression of DLL4,MVD and clinicopathological parameters of pancreatic carcinoma was investigated.Results The expression of DLL4 in pancreatic cancer was significantly higher than that in para-cancerous normal pancreatic tissue (68.3％ vs 20％,P ＜0.01 ).The over-expression of DLL4 in pancreatic cancer was positively related to the differentiation degree,TNM staging,metastasis and invasion (P ＜0.05),but not related to the location,tumor size and histological types.The MVD in pancreatic cancer tissues was significantly higher than that in para-cancerous normal tissues (34.9 ± 13.2 vs 18.9 ±2.2,P ＜0.01).MVD was correlated with the differentiation degree,TNM staging,metastasis and invasion (P ＜0.05 ),but not with the tumor size and location,histological types.MVD in pancreatic cancer expressing DLL4 was significantly higher than that in pancreatic cancer not expressing DLL4 ( 38.8± 10.7vs 29.0 ± 15.2,P =0.038 ),and the expression of DLL4 and MVD were positively correlated ( r =0.669,P ＜ 0.05 ).Conclusions DLL4 expression may play an important role in pancreatic carcinogenesis by promoting angiogenesis and may be associated with tumor invasion and metastasis.