Stromal expression of hemopexin is associated with lymph-node metastasis in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

PLoS One. 2020 Jul 14;15(7):e0235904. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0235904. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is one of the most aggressive types of cancer. Certain proteins in the tumor microenvironment have attracted considerable attention owing to their association with tumor invasion and metastasis. Here, we used proteomics to identify proteins associated with lymph-node metastasis, which is one of the prognostic factors. We selected lymph node metastasis-positive and -negative patients (n = 5 each) who underwent pancreatectomy between 2005 and 2015 and subjected to comprehensive proteomic profiling of tumor stroma. A total of 490 proteins were detected by mass spectrometry. Software analysis revealed that nine of these proteins were differentially expressed between the two patient groups. We focused on hemopexin and ferritin light chain based on immunohistochemistry results. We assessed the clinicopathological data of 163 patients and found that hemopexin expression was associated with UICC N2 (p = 0.0399), lymph node ratio (p = 0.0252), venous invasion (p = 0.0096), and lymphatic invasion (p = 0.0232). Notably, in vitro assays showed that hemopexin promotes invasion of the pancreatic cancer cells. Our findings suggest that hemopexin is a lymph node metastasis-associated protein that could potentially serve as a useful therapeutic target or biomarker of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Apoferritins / metabolism
  • Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal / metabolism
  • Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal / pathology*
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cell Movement
  • Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
  • Female
  • Hemopexin / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Lymphatic Metastasis
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Neoplasm Grading
  • Pancreatic Neoplasms / metabolism
  • Pancreatic Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Prognosis
  • Proteome / analysis
  • Proteomics / methods
  • Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Substances

  • Proteome
  • Apoferritins
  • Hemopexin

Grants and funding

This work was supported, in part, JSPS (Japan Society For The Promotion Of Science https://www.jsps.go.jp/j-grantsinaid/16_rule/rule_h24.html) KAKENHI Grant number 16K19914 and 19K18107. Tatsuyuki Takadate received the grant. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. There was no additional external funding received for this study.