Expression and prognostic roles of integrins and interleukin-1 receptor type I in patients with ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreas

To investigate the prognostic indicator, we examined the expression of alpha6- and alpha5-integrin and interleukin-1 receptor type I (IL-1RI) immunohistochemically, and analyzed the correlation between immunohistochemical findings and clinicopathological factors in pancreatic cancer. In patients with a strongly expressing alpha6-integrin subunit or weakly expressing alpha5beta1-integrin in pancreatic cancer tissues there was a significant association with advanced TNM stage (P = 0.027 and 0.014, respectively), presence of liver metastases (P = 0.032 and 0.002, respectively), and poor prognosis (P = 0.0155 and 0.0056, respectively). In patients with a weakly expressing alpha6 integrin subunit or weakly expressing alpha5beta1-integrin in noncancerous pancreatic tissues there was a significant association with poor prognosis (P = 0.0324 and 0.0396, respectively). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that strong expression of alpha6- and weak expression of alpha5beta1-integrin were found to be independent prognosticators in pancreatic cancer patients. Our present results indicate that alpha6beta1- and alpha5beta1-integrin expression can be a significant prognostic indicator in pancreatic cancer.