Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Nov 14, 2021; 27(42): 7324-7339
Published online Nov 14, 2021. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v27.i42.7324
Detailing the ultrastructure’s increase of prion protein in pancreatic adenocarcinoma
Matteo Bianchini, Maria Anita Giambelluca, Maria Concetta Scavuzzo, Gregorio Di Franco, Simone Guadagni, Matteo Palmeri, Niccolò Furbetta, Desirée Gianardi, Niccola Funel, Claudio Ricci, Raffaele Gaeta, Luca Emanuele Pollina, Alfredo Falcone, Caterina Vivaldi, Giulio Di Candio, Francesca Biagioni, Carla Letizia Busceti, Luca Morelli, Francesco Fornai
Matteo Bianchini, Gregorio Di Franco, Simone Guadagni, Matteo Palmeri, Niccolò Furbetta, Desirée Gianardi, Giulio Di Candio, Luca Morelli, General Surgery Unit, Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, Pisa 56124, Italy
Maria Anita Giambelluca, Maria Concetta Scavuzzo, Francesco Fornai, Human Anatomy, Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, Pisa 56124, Italy
Niccola Funel, Claudio Ricci, Raffaele Gaeta, Luca Emanuele Pollina, Division of Surgical Pathology, Department of Surgical, Medical, Molecular Pathology and Critical Area, University of Pisa, Pisa 56124, Italy
Alfredo Falcone, Caterina Vivaldi, Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, Pisa 56124, Italy
Francesca Biagioni, Carla Letizia Busceti, Francesco Fornai, IRCCS Neuromed, Istituto Neurologico Mediterraneo, Pozzilli 86077, Italy
Luca Morelli, EndoCAS (Center for Computer Assisted Surgery), University of Pisa, Pisa 56124, Italy
Author contributions: Bianchini M and Giambelluca MA contributed equally to this work; Morelli L and Fornai F contributed equally to this work; Bianchini M, Giambelluca MA, Scavuzzo MC, Morelli L and Fornai F studied the conception and design; Bianchini M, Giambelluca MA, Scavuzzo MC, Di Franco G, Guadagni S, Palmeri M, Furbetta N, Gianardi D, Funel N, Ricci C, Gaeta R, Pollina LE, Falcone A, Vivaldi C and Di Candio G contributed to data acquisition; Morelli L and Fornai F are responsible for data analysis and interpretation, and revised the manuscript critically; Bianchini M, Giambelluca MA, Scavuzzo MC, Di Franco G, Guadagni S, Palmeri M, Furbetta N, Gianardi D, Funel N, Pollina LE, Falcone A, Vivaldi C, Di Candio C, Biagioni F and Busceti CL drafted the manuscript; all authors approved the final manuscript.
Supported by Tizzi Foundation and Arpa Foundation (www.fondazionearpa.it).
Institutional review board statement: The study was approved by Ethics committee of “Area Vasta Nord Ovest (CEAVNO)”.
Informed consent statement: All patients signed an informed consent to authorize the scientific use of the collected data.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they do not have any conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Luca Morelli, MD, Professor, General Surgery Unit, Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, Via Paradisa 2, Pisa 56124, Italy. luca.morelli@unipi.it
Received: April 27, 2021
Peer-review started: April 27, 2021
First decision: June 13, 2021
Revised: June 14, 2021
Accepted: October 25, 2021
Article in press: October 25, 2021
Published online: November 14, 2021
Core Tip

Core Tip: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is an extremely lethal cancer and we are far away from understanding its biology. Recent in vitro evidence hypothesizes some role of cellular prion protein (PrPc) in PDAC carcinogenesis. We found that this protein is over-expressed in vivo within PDAC tissue of surgically resected patients, here we quantify the stoichiometric increase and provide evidence for a shift towards a nuclear compartmentalization. Such a protein amount is associated with poorer post-surgical prognosis and neuro-invasion. Thus, PrPc might be a key in the puzzled evidence of PDAC biology leading to better comprehend and cure such an aggressive disorder.