Lymph node involvement in pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAC) predicts postresection survival, but early lymph node metastasis detection is not easily accomplished. We assessed a panel of microRNAs (miRNAs) in a common hepatic artery lymph node (station 8) that is readily accessible during pancreatoduodenectomy (PD) to determine if increased miRNA levels correlate with postresection recurrence. Station 8 lymph nodes overlying the common hepatic artery collected during PD were assayed for miRNA-10b, miRNA-30c, miRNA-21, and miRNA-155 and cytokeratin-19 (CK19), an epithelial cell marker, using quantitative PCR. Expression was correlated with disease recurrence, recurrence-free survival (RFS), and overall survival (OS). Station 8 lymph nodes from 37 patients (30 periampullary carcinomas (PCs), 2 chronic pancreatitis, 5 other cancers) exhibited increased miRNA-10b levels in 14/30 PCs, and in 10 of these 14 patients, cancer recurred during the study period (2012-2015). High miRNA-10b was also associated with shorter RFS (42.5 vs. 92.4 weeks, p < 0.05) but not OS, whereas miRNA-30c, miRNA-21, and miRNA-155 levels and CK19 mRNA levels in station 8 nodes were variable and did not correlate with RFS or OS. We conclude that elevated miRNA-10b levels in station 8 lymph nodes could be utilized to assess risk for early disease progression in patients with periampullary tumors.
Keywords: Lymph node; MicroRNA; Pancreatic cancer.