OBJECTIVE To compare the expression of the thyroid transcription factor-1 （TTF-1） in human normal adult type Ⅱ alveolar epithelial cells, embryonic pneumocytes and cancer cells of lung carcinoma and metastatic lymp...OBJECTIVE To compare the expression of the thyroid transcription factor-1 （TTF-1） in human normal adult type Ⅱ alveolar epithelial cells, embryonic pneumocytes and cancer cells of lung carcinoma and metastatic lymph nodes using a tissue microarray （TMA） along with paired conventional full sections, and to investigate the reliability of tissue microarrays in detecting protein expression in lung carcinoma. METHODS A lung carcinoma TMA including 765 cores was constructed. TTF-1 protein expression in both TMA and paired conventional full sections were detected by the immunohistochemical SP method using a monoclonal antibody to TTF-1. A PU （Positive Unit） of TTF-1 protein was assessed quantitatively by the Leica Q500MC image analysis system with results from the paired conventional full sections as controls. RESULTS There was no significance between TMA and paired conventional full sections in TTF-1 expression in different nuclei of the lung tissue. CONCLUSION TTF-1 protein expression in lung carcinoma detected by TMA was highly concordant with that of paired full sections. TMA is a reliable method in detecting protein expression.展开更多
Objective: To investigate the significance of abnormal E-cadherin and β-catenin expression in pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN) and pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Methods:Pancreatic samples of 156 cases were r...Objective: To investigate the significance of abnormal E-cadherin and β-catenin expression in pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN) and pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Methods:Pancreatic samples of 156 cases were retrospectively studied from surgery and autopsy in Changhai hospital from January 2001 to December 2003, from which tissue microarray blocks containing 129 PanIN-1A lesions, 104 PanIN-1B lesions, 22 PanIN-2 lesions, 11 PanIN-3 lesions, and 121 pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas and corresponding paracancerous tissues were constructed. EnVision method of immunohistochemistry was used to detect the E-cadherin and β-catenin expression. The correlation between the abnormal E-cadherin and β-catenin expression and clinicopathological parameters was analysed. Results: The rate of E-cadherin abnormal expression was significant in ductal adenocarcinomas compared with the PanIN lesions and normal ducts(64.5%,32.3%,0%), moreover, the rate of E-cadherin abnormal expression was in relation to differentiation, lymph node metastasis and perineural invasion of pancreatic adenocarcinoma(P<0.05). There was remarkable increase in the E-cadherin cytoplasmic expression in PanIN lesions and ductal adenocarcinomas compared with normal ducts. The rate of β-catenin abnormal expression was found to be related with lymph node metastasis and perineural invasion of pancreatic adenocarcinoma(P<0.05). The expression of β-catenin cytoplasm and/or nucleus was significant in high-grade PanIN lesions and ductal adenocarcinomas compared with low grade PanIN lesions or normal ducts(P<0.05). There was a positive relationship between the E-cadherin and β-catenin expression in PanIN lesions and ductal adenocarcinomas (P<0.01, P<0.05). Conclusion: There is aberration in the expression of the E-cadherin and β-catenin in PanIN lesions and ductal adenocarcinomas, suggesting the E-cadherin and β-catenin changes is not only related with the biological action and prognosis, but also involved in pancreatic carcinogenesis.展开更多
BACKGROUND:Pancreatic cancer is a highly aggressive malignant tumor with the lowest survival rate.A better understanding of the molecular mechanisms which contribute to pancreatic cancer occurrence and progression wil...BACKGROUND:Pancreatic cancer is a highly aggressive malignant tumor with the lowest survival rate.A better understanding of the molecular mechanisms which contribute to pancreatic cancer occurrence and progression will aid in the development of new approaches to the early diagnosis,prevention,and treatment of this deadly disease.The scaffold protein IQGAP1 shows elevated levels in a variety of cancer types.Currently,we investigated whether or not IQGAP1 is also overexpressed in pancreatic cancer.METHODS:IQGAP1 expression was examined in pancreatic cancer and normal tissues adjacent to cancerous tissues(adjacent tissues)by Western blotting and real-time RT-PCR as well as in paraffin sections of tissue microarray by immunohistochemistry.The correlations between IQGAP1 expression and various clinicopathological characteristics were analyzed.RESULTS:Western blotting and real-time RT-PCR revealed that the levels of IQGAP1 protein and mRNA expression in pancreatic cancer tissues were significantly increased compared with adjacent tissues.Immunohistochemistry analysis on tissue microarray showed that IQGAP1 protein expression was significantly higher in pancreatic cancer(80.0%,48/60)compared with adjacent tissues(18.3%,11/60)(P【0.001).Moreover,overexpression of IQGAP1 was shown to be associated with the grades of tumor differentiation(P【0.05).CONCLUSION:The overexpression of IQGAP1 may play an important role in pancreatic cancer occurrence and progression,and IQGAP1 may serve as a novel molecular target for the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer.展开更多
BACKGROUND： Recent studies have shown the clinical significance of epidermal growth factor-like domain 7（EGFL7）in a variety of cancers. However, the relationship between EGFL7 and the prognosis of pancreatic cancer...BACKGROUND： Recent studies have shown the clinical significance of epidermal growth factor-like domain 7（EGFL7）in a variety of cancers. However, the relationship between EGFL7 and the prognosis of pancreatic cancer（PC） remains unclear. The present study was undertaken to investigate the role of EGFL7 in the prognosis of PC.METHODS： The expression of EGFL7 in nine PC cell lines was first determined by Western blotting analysis. Tissue microarray-based immunohistochemical staining was performed in paired formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumor and non-tumor samples from 83 patients with PC. Finally,correlations between EGFL7 expression and clinicopathological variables as well as overall survival were evaluated.RESULTS： EGFL7 was widely expressed in all PC cell lines tested.EGFL7 expression in tumor tissues was significantly higher than that in non-tumor tissues（P0.040）. In addition, univariate analysis revealed that high EGFL7 expression in tumor tissues was significantly associated with poor overall survival,accompanied by several conventional clinicopathological variables, such as gender, histological grade and lymph node metastasis. In a multivariate Cox regression test, EGFL7 expression was identified as an independent marker for longterm outcome of PC.CONCLUSION： Our data showed that EGFL7 is extensively expressed in PC and that EGFL7 is associated with poor prognosis.展开更多
AIM: To investigate member 3a of Wingless-type MMTV integration site family (Wnt3a) expression in cancerous and surrounding tissues and the relationship between clinicopathologic features of hepatocellular carcinoma (...AIM: To investigate member 3a of Wingless-type MMTV integration site family (Wnt3a) expression in cancerous and surrounding tissues and the relationship between clinicopathologic features of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and Wnt3a expression.METHODS: Wnt3a expression and cellular distribution and clinicopathologic characteristics in cancerous tissue and matched surrounding tissues were analyzed in 80 HCC patients from January 2006 to August 2008 by tissue microarrays and immunohistochemistry. The overall and disease-free survival rates were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared with the log-rank test. The prognostic analysis was carried out with univariate and multivariate Cox regressions models.RESULTS: The incidence of oncogenic Wnt3a expression in the cancerous group was up to 96.25% (77 of 80), which was significantly higher (χ<sup>2</sup> = 48.818, P < 0.001) than that in the surrounding group (46.25%, 37 of 80). Brown Wnt3a staining gradually increased with clinical staging that showed very strong staining in advanced HCC. The clinicopathologic features of high Wnt3a expression in HCC were related to poorly-differentiated grade (χ<sup>2</sup> = 20.211, P < 0.001), liver cirrhosis (χ<sup>2</sup> = 8.467, P < 0.004), hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection (χ<sup>2</sup> = 12.957, P < 0.001), higher tumor-node-metastasis stage (χ<sup>2</sup> = 22.960, P < 0.001), and 5-year survival rate (χ<sup>2</sup> = 15.469, P < 0.001).CONCLUSION: Oncogenic Wnt3a expression associated with HBV infection and cirrhotic liver might be an independent prognostic factor for HCC.展开更多
Objective：To investigate the significance of Poly（ADP-ribose） glycolhydrolase（PARG） and membrane type 1 matrix metalloproteinase（MT1-MMP） expressions in human colorectal carcinoma.Methods：Immunohistochemical s...Objective：To investigate the significance of Poly（ADP-ribose） glycolhydrolase（PARG） and membrane type 1 matrix metalloproteinase（MT1-MMP） expressions in human colorectal carcinoma.Methods：Immunohistochemical staining for PARG and MT1-MMP was carried out on colorectal adenoma-carcinoma tissue microarrays containing normal colorectal mucosae,adenoma,adenoma with malignant transformation and adenocarcinoma（total 130 specimens）.The expressions of PARG and MT1-MMP in the GLTN [Gallotannin]-treated and GLTN-untreated lovo cells were detected by Western Blot.Results：PARG expression in adenocarcinoma（83.1%） and adenoma with malignant transformation（66.7%） was significantly higher than that in normal colorectal mucosa（10%） and adenoma（10.5%）.Expression of MT1-MMp in normal colorectal mucosa and adenoma was negative,while the expression in adenocarcinoma（80.3%） and adenoma with malignant transformation（72.2%） was high.The expressions of PARG and MT1-MMP in adenocarcinoma with metastasis and in late tumor stages were significantly higher than those in adenocarcinoma with no metastasis and in early tumor stages.Thus,PARG expression shows a positive correlation with the expression of MT1-MMP.The expressions of PARG and MT1-MMP in GLTN-treated lovo cells were weaker than that in GLTN-untreated lovo cells.Conclusion：The expression of PARG was probably related to the development of colorectal carcinoma.PARG may play an important role for the regulation of MT1-MMP expression in colorectal carcinoma.展开更多
Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the expressions of CD147 and CK19 in hepatocellular car- cinoma (HCC) and their clinical significance. Methods: The expressions of CD147 and CK19 were determined by ...Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the expressions of CD147 and CK19 in hepatocellular car- cinoma (HCC) and their clinical significance. Methods: The expressions of CD147 and CK19 were determined by tissue microarray and immunohistochemistry (IHC) in 272 cases of HCC and 81 cases of adjacent tumorous tissue. Results: The positive expression of CD147 in HCC and adjacent tumorous tissue was 73.53% (200/272) and 13.58% (11/81) with signifi- cant difference (P < 0.05). The positive expression of CK19 in HCC and adjacent tumorous tissue was 14.34% (39/272) and 0 (0/81) with significant difference (P < 0.05). The positive expression of CD147 were closely correlated to the histological grade, clinical stage, tumor-free survival, diameter of tumor and embolus of cancer in aqueduct or portal vein; but not to the patients' sex, age, liver cirrhosis, AFP level, infection of HBV, lymph node metastasis, number of tumor, invasion liver involucrum and the micro-satellites (P > 0.05). The expression of CK19 in HCC were closely correlate to the tumor-free survival, histological grade, diameter of tumor, liver cirrhosis, micro-satellites, lymph node metastasis and clinical stage; but not to patients' sex, age, number of tumor, invasion liver involucrum, AFP level, infection of HBV and embolus of cancer in aqueduct or portal vein (P > 0.05). Among the patients of positive expression of CD147, the median replacing time and overall survival were 13 and 24 months, lower than 48 and 60 months in the patients of negative expression (P < 0.05). Among the patients of positive expression of CK19, the median replacing time and overall survival were 7 and 13 months, lower than 31 and 42 months in the patients of negative expression (P < 0.05). The expression of CD147 had no correlation with the expression of CK19 (r = 0.061, P = 0.317). Conclusion: The positive of CD147 and CK19 closely correlate with the clinical prognosis of HCC, it may indicate poor prognosis of HCC.展开更多
Background: Aquaporins (AQPs) are important in controlling bile water secretion. AQP is related to the invasion and metastasis of cancer. However, the relationship of biliary tract cancer is not clear. The role of AQP...Background: Aquaporins (AQPs) are important in controlling bile water secretion. AQP is related to the invasion and metastasis of cancer. However, the relationship of biliary tract cancer is not clear. The role of AQP-1 in cancer cell is also unknown. Methhods: We analyzed AQP-1 expression using tissue microarray (TMA) in 99 samples immunohistochemically (50 gallbladder carcinoma, 39 bile duct carcinoma and 10 Papilla Vater carcinoma patients who underwent surgery at our department from 1997 to 2011). Gene expressions were evaluated by the combination of the immunohistological intensity and distribution. The expression level is compared to the clinico-pathological data of the patients. Results: In the TMA, depth of tumor invasion and histological type are associated with AQP-1 expression. The group of patients with high AQP-1 expression is associated with higher rates of disease specific survival (log-rank p = 0.013). Cox’s proportional hazard model reveals that AQP-1 expression is an independent prognostic factor (RR, 0.324;p = 0.001) in multivariate analysis. There is a correlation between AQP-1 expression and tumor invasion. Conclusions: These observations of this study suggest that AQP-1 expression may be favorable biomarkers associated with prognosis and tumor invasion in biliary tract carcinoma.展开更多
基金the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China (No. 30271462)the science and technology planning project of Guangdong Province (No. 2KM04501S)the principal science and technology project of Guangzhou City (No. 2003Z2-E0061, E0062).
文摘OBJECTIVE To compare the expression of the thyroid transcription factor-1 （TTF-1） in human normal adult type Ⅱ alveolar epithelial cells, embryonic pneumocytes and cancer cells of lung carcinoma and metastatic lymph nodes using a tissue microarray （TMA） along with paired conventional full sections, and to investigate the reliability of tissue microarrays in detecting protein expression in lung carcinoma. METHODS A lung carcinoma TMA including 765 cores was constructed. TTF-1 protein expression in both TMA and paired conventional full sections were detected by the immunohistochemical SP method using a monoclonal antibody to TTF-1. A PU （Positive Unit） of TTF-1 protein was assessed quantitatively by the Leica Q500MC image analysis system with results from the paired conventional full sections as controls. RESULTS There was no significance between TMA and paired conventional full sections in TTF-1 expression in different nuclei of the lung tissue. CONCLUSION TTF-1 protein expression in lung carcinoma detected by TMA was highly concordant with that of paired full sections. TMA is a reliable method in detecting protein expression.
基金Supported by Changhai Hospital Subject ConstructProgram.
文摘Objective: To investigate the significance of abnormal E-cadherin and β-catenin expression in pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN) and pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Methods:Pancreatic samples of 156 cases were retrospectively studied from surgery and autopsy in Changhai hospital from January 2001 to December 2003, from which tissue microarray blocks containing 129 PanIN-1A lesions, 104 PanIN-1B lesions, 22 PanIN-2 lesions, 11 PanIN-3 lesions, and 121 pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas and corresponding paracancerous tissues were constructed. EnVision method of immunohistochemistry was used to detect the E-cadherin and β-catenin expression. The correlation between the abnormal E-cadherin and β-catenin expression and clinicopathological parameters was analysed. Results: The rate of E-cadherin abnormal expression was significant in ductal adenocarcinomas compared with the PanIN lesions and normal ducts(64.5%,32.3%,0%), moreover, the rate of E-cadherin abnormal expression was in relation to differentiation, lymph node metastasis and perineural invasion of pancreatic adenocarcinoma(P<0.05). There was remarkable increase in the E-cadherin cytoplasmic expression in PanIN lesions and ductal adenocarcinomas compared with normal ducts. The rate of β-catenin abnormal expression was found to be related with lymph node metastasis and perineural invasion of pancreatic adenocarcinoma(P<0.05). The expression of β-catenin cytoplasm and/or nucleus was significant in high-grade PanIN lesions and ductal adenocarcinomas compared with low grade PanIN lesions or normal ducts(P<0.05). There was a positive relationship between the E-cadherin and β-catenin expression in PanIN lesions and ductal adenocarcinomas (P<0.01, P<0.05). Conclusion: There is aberration in the expression of the E-cadherin and β-catenin in PanIN lesions and ductal adenocarcinomas, suggesting the E-cadherin and β-catenin changes is not only related with the biological action and prognosis, but also involved in pancreatic carcinogenesis.
基金supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(81372676 and 30973401)the Natural Science Foundation of Shanxi Province(2009011052-1)
文摘BACKGROUND:Pancreatic cancer is a highly aggressive malignant tumor with the lowest survival rate.A better understanding of the molecular mechanisms which contribute to pancreatic cancer occurrence and progression will aid in the development of new approaches to the early diagnosis,prevention,and treatment of this deadly disease.The scaffold protein IQGAP1 shows elevated levels in a variety of cancer types.Currently,we investigated whether or not IQGAP1 is also overexpressed in pancreatic cancer.METHODS:IQGAP1 expression was examined in pancreatic cancer and normal tissues adjacent to cancerous tissues(adjacent tissues)by Western blotting and real-time RT-PCR as well as in paraffin sections of tissue microarray by immunohistochemistry.The correlations between IQGAP1 expression and various clinicopathological characteristics were analyzed.RESULTS:Western blotting and real-time RT-PCR revealed that the levels of IQGAP1 protein and mRNA expression in pancreatic cancer tissues were significantly increased compared with adjacent tissues.Immunohistochemistry analysis on tissue microarray showed that IQGAP1 protein expression was significantly higher in pancreatic cancer(80.0%,48/60)compared with adjacent tissues(18.3%,11/60)(P【0.001).Moreover,overexpression of IQGAP1 was shown to be associated with the grades of tumor differentiation(P【0.05).CONCLUSION:The overexpression of IQGAP1 may play an important role in pancreatic cancer occurrence and progression,and IQGAP1 may serve as a novel molecular target for the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer.
基金supported by a grant from the Research Special Fund for Public Welfare Industry of Health(201202007)
文摘BACKGROUND： Recent studies have shown the clinical significance of epidermal growth factor-like domain 7（EGFL7）in a variety of cancers. However, the relationship between EGFL7 and the prognosis of pancreatic cancer（PC） remains unclear. The present study was undertaken to investigate the role of EGFL7 in the prognosis of PC.METHODS： The expression of EGFL7 in nine PC cell lines was first determined by Western blotting analysis. Tissue microarray-based immunohistochemical staining was performed in paired formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumor and non-tumor samples from 83 patients with PC. Finally,correlations between EGFL7 expression and clinicopathological variables as well as overall survival were evaluated.RESULTS： EGFL7 was widely expressed in all PC cell lines tested.EGFL7 expression in tumor tissues was significantly higher than that in non-tumor tissues（P0.040）. In addition, univariate analysis revealed that high EGFL7 expression in tumor tissues was significantly associated with poor overall survival,accompanied by several conventional clinicopathological variables, such as gender, histological grade and lymph node metastasis. In a multivariate Cox regression test, EGFL7 expression was identified as an independent marker for longterm outcome of PC.CONCLUSION： Our data showed that EGFL7 is extensively expressed in PC and that EGFL7 is associated with poor prognosis.
基金Supported by the International S&T Cooperation Program,No.2013DFA32150 of China
文摘AIM: To investigate member 3a of Wingless-type MMTV integration site family (Wnt3a) expression in cancerous and surrounding tissues and the relationship between clinicopathologic features of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and Wnt3a expression.METHODS: Wnt3a expression and cellular distribution and clinicopathologic characteristics in cancerous tissue and matched surrounding tissues were analyzed in 80 HCC patients from January 2006 to August 2008 by tissue microarrays and immunohistochemistry. The overall and disease-free survival rates were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared with the log-rank test. The prognostic analysis was carried out with univariate and multivariate Cox regressions models.RESULTS: The incidence of oncogenic Wnt3a expression in the cancerous group was up to 96.25% (77 of 80), which was significantly higher (χ<sup>2</sup> = 48.818, P < 0.001) than that in the surrounding group (46.25%, 37 of 80). Brown Wnt3a staining gradually increased with clinical staging that showed very strong staining in advanced HCC. The clinicopathologic features of high Wnt3a expression in HCC were related to poorly-differentiated grade (χ<sup>2</sup> = 20.211, P < 0.001), liver cirrhosis (χ<sup>2</sup> = 8.467, P < 0.004), hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection (χ<sup>2</sup> = 12.957, P < 0.001), higher tumor-node-metastasis stage (χ<sup>2</sup> = 22.960, P < 0.001), and 5-year survival rate (χ<sup>2</sup> = 15.469, P < 0.001).CONCLUSION: Oncogenic Wnt3a expression associated with HBV infection and cirrhotic liver might be an independent prognostic factor for HCC.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.30870946)Research Foundation of Chongqing Medical University(XB0536)
文摘Objective：To investigate the significance of Poly（ADP-ribose） glycolhydrolase（PARG） and membrane type 1 matrix metalloproteinase（MT1-MMP） expressions in human colorectal carcinoma.Methods：Immunohistochemical staining for PARG and MT1-MMP was carried out on colorectal adenoma-carcinoma tissue microarrays containing normal colorectal mucosae,adenoma,adenoma with malignant transformation and adenocarcinoma（total 130 specimens）.The expressions of PARG and MT1-MMP in the GLTN [Gallotannin]-treated and GLTN-untreated lovo cells were detected by Western Blot.Results：PARG expression in adenocarcinoma（83.1%） and adenoma with malignant transformation（66.7%） was significantly higher than that in normal colorectal mucosa（10%） and adenoma（10.5%）.Expression of MT1-MMp in normal colorectal mucosa and adenoma was negative,while the expression in adenocarcinoma（80.3%） and adenoma with malignant transformation（72.2%） was high.The expressions of PARG and MT1-MMP in adenocarcinoma with metastasis and in late tumor stages were significantly higher than those in adenocarcinoma with no metastasis and in early tumor stages.Thus,PARG expression shows a positive correlation with the expression of MT1-MMP.The expressions of PARG and MT1-MMP in GLTN-treated lovo cells were weaker than that in GLTN-untreated lovo cells.Conclusion：The expression of PARG was probably related to the development of colorectal carcinoma.PARG may play an important role for the regulation of MT1-MMP expression in colorectal carcinoma.
文摘Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the expressions of CD147 and CK19 in hepatocellular car- cinoma (HCC) and their clinical significance. Methods: The expressions of CD147 and CK19 were determined by tissue microarray and immunohistochemistry (IHC) in 272 cases of HCC and 81 cases of adjacent tumorous tissue. Results: The positive expression of CD147 in HCC and adjacent tumorous tissue was 73.53% (200/272) and 13.58% (11/81) with signifi- cant difference (P < 0.05). The positive expression of CK19 in HCC and adjacent tumorous tissue was 14.34% (39/272) and 0 (0/81) with significant difference (P < 0.05). The positive expression of CD147 were closely correlated to the histological grade, clinical stage, tumor-free survival, diameter of tumor and embolus of cancer in aqueduct or portal vein; but not to the patients' sex, age, liver cirrhosis, AFP level, infection of HBV, lymph node metastasis, number of tumor, invasion liver involucrum and the micro-satellites (P > 0.05). The expression of CK19 in HCC were closely correlate to the tumor-free survival, histological grade, diameter of tumor, liver cirrhosis, micro-satellites, lymph node metastasis and clinical stage; but not to patients' sex, age, number of tumor, invasion liver involucrum, AFP level, infection of HBV and embolus of cancer in aqueduct or portal vein (P > 0.05). Among the patients of positive expression of CD147, the median replacing time and overall survival were 13 and 24 months, lower than 48 and 60 months in the patients of negative expression (P < 0.05). Among the patients of positive expression of CK19, the median replacing time and overall survival were 7 and 13 months, lower than 31 and 42 months in the patients of negative expression (P < 0.05). The expression of CD147 had no correlation with the expression of CK19 (r = 0.061, P = 0.317). Conclusion: The positive of CD147 and CK19 closely correlate with the clinical prognosis of HCC, it may indicate poor prognosis of HCC.
文摘Background: Aquaporins (AQPs) are important in controlling bile water secretion. AQP is related to the invasion and metastasis of cancer. However, the relationship of biliary tract cancer is not clear. The role of AQP-1 in cancer cell is also unknown. Methhods: We analyzed AQP-1 expression using tissue microarray (TMA) in 99 samples immunohistochemically (50 gallbladder carcinoma, 39 bile duct carcinoma and 10 Papilla Vater carcinoma patients who underwent surgery at our department from 1997 to 2011). Gene expressions were evaluated by the combination of the immunohistological intensity and distribution. The expression level is compared to the clinico-pathological data of the patients. Results: In the TMA, depth of tumor invasion and histological type are associated with AQP-1 expression. The group of patients with high AQP-1 expression is associated with higher rates of disease specific survival (log-rank p = 0.013). Cox’s proportional hazard model reveals that AQP-1 expression is an independent prognostic factor (RR, 0.324;p = 0.001) in multivariate analysis. There is a correlation between AQP-1 expression and tumor invasion. Conclusions: These observations of this study suggest that AQP-1 expression may be favorable biomarkers associated with prognosis and tumor invasion in biliary tract carcinoma.
