Expression and clinical significance of p120 catenin mRNA and protein in pancreatic carcinoma.

The aim of this work was investigate the association of P120 catenin expression with the clinicopathologic features and prognosis of pancreatic carcinoma. RT-PCR was performed to investigate the expression of P120 catenin mRNA and western blotting were performed to investigate the expression of P120 catenin protein in 52 patients with pancreatic carcinoma. The relationships between P120 catenin expression and clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis were analyzed. The mRNA and protein expression of P120 catenin detected by RT-PCR and western blotting in pancreatic carcinoma was significantly lower than that in normal pancreatic tissues (0.227+/-0.067 vs 0.793+/-0.162, t=9.157, P =0.000; 0.665+/-0.192 vs 0.936+/-0.251, t=3.857, P=0.002). Reduced expression of P120 catenin mRNA and protein was significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis (P =0.004, P =0.006), vascular invasion (P =0.022, P =0.039 ), distant metastasis (P =0.037 , P =0.025), differentiated (P =0.033, P =0.013) and pTNM stage (P =0.003, P =0.022) of tumours. Additionally, reduced expression of P120 catenin mRNA and protein in tumour correlated with a worse prognosis and normal expression with a better survival rate (P=0.022, P=0.007). The reduced expression of both P120 catenin mRNA and protein in pancreatic carcinoma suggest that low expressions relate to pancreatic carcinoma development. P120 catenin may be related to pancreatic carcinoma behaviour and be a potential prognostic molecule.