Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Jul 15, 2020; 12(7): 719-731
Published online Jul 15, 2020. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v12.i7.719
Clinical significance of SQSTM1/P62 and nuclear factor-κB expression in pancreatic carcinoma
Zhao-Yang Zhang, Sen Guo, Rui Zhao, Zhi-Peng Ji, Zhuo-Nan Zhuang
Zhao-Yang Zhang, Department of Emergency Surgery, Qilu Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong Province, China
Sen Guo, Rui Zhao, Department of General Surgery, Qilu Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong Province, China
Zhi-Peng Ji, Department of General Surgery, Second Affiliated Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan 250033, Shandong Province, China
Zhuo-Nan Zhuang, Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital, School of Clinical Medicine, Tsinghua University, Beijing 102200, China
Author contributions: Zhang ZY and Zhuang ZN were major contributors in writing the manuscript and analyzing the data; Guo S and Zhuang ZN made substantial contributions to study design; Guo S, Zhao R, and Ji ZP were major contributors in doing the animal experiments; all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of Qilu Hospital, Shandong University.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Dr. Zhuang reports grants from Excellent-Talent Training Project of Beijing Foundation (No. 12016B4023) and from the Natural Sciences Foundation of Shandong Province (No. ZR2014HM101), during the conduct of the study. All other authors have nothing to disclose.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are 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: Zhuo-Nan Zhuang, MD, Associate Chief Physician, Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital, School of Clinical Medicine, Tsinghua University, No. 168, Litang Road, Tiantongyuan, Changping District, Beijing 102218, China. 1054766178@qq.com
Received: March 25, 2020
Peer-review started: March 25, 2020
First decision: April 26, 2020
Revised: May 3, 2020
Accepted: May 27, 2020
Article in press: May 27, 2020
Published online: July 15, 2020
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Almost 90% cases of pancreatic cancer can be detected with the mutation activation of KRAS gene. Ras mutated tumors have been shown to express a highly active nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling pathway. NF-κB in pancreatic cancer with KRAS gene mutation was in a persistent activation state, which was closely related to the high expression of P62.

Research motivation

To detect the expression level of P62 in pancreatic cancer and find the relationship among P62, P65, and clinicopathological features, which will provide a theoretical basis for the prevention of pancreatic cancer and postponement of its development.

Research objectives

This study aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics of patients with pancreatic carcinomas and evaluate the relationship among P62, P65, and clinicopathological features.

Research methods

Typical tumor tissue chips were used to detect the expression of phospho-P65 and P62 by immunohistochemical staining. SPSS 22.0 software was used to analyze the relationship between the expression of phosphor-P65 and P62 and the clinico-pathological features of pancreatic carcinoma samples.

Research results

P62 was mainly expressed in the cytoplasm of pancreatic carcinoma cells, and phospho-P65 was mainly expressed in the nucleus and cytoplasm of pancreatic carcinoma cells. Aprroximately 94.3% of phospho-P65 positive tissues showed positive P62 expression in pancreatic carcinomas. And 89.2% of P62 positive tissues showed positive phospho-P65 expression in pancreatic carcinomas. There was a significant difference in P62 expression among different T stages of pancreatic carcinoma.

Research conclusions

P62 could be used as a valuable malignant indicator for human pancreatic carcinomas.

Research perspectives

The correlation between clinicopathological features and P62 expression could be used to predict the prognosis in patients with pancreatic cancer. NF-kB and P62 may be new targets for future carcinoma therapy.