Abstract
In the present study immunohistochemical staining was used to detect for fibronectin (FN) in 53 primary pancreatic cancers (including 9 mucin-producing pancreatic cancers), 26 metastatic lesions and 22 benign diseases. Its expression was examined in regard to its relation to the clinicopathological factors and the patients' prognosis. FN was present in the basement membrane (BM) in 11% of primary pancreatic cancers (6/53), 8% of metastatic lesions (2/26) and 22% of benign diseases (4.22). Five of the six cases of primary pancreatic cancer in which FN was positive in the BM were mucin-producing pancreatic cancers, which are well known to have a relatively good prognosis in general. The rate of positive BM-FN in mucin-producing pancreatic cancers was significantly higher than that in non producing common invasive ductal carcinomas. But there were no significant differences in the rate of positive FN in the cytoplasm among the three groups. The rate of positive FN in the extracellular matrix of benign diseases was significantly higher than those of primary pancreatic cancers and metastatic lesions. The rate of positive BM-FN in low-stage cancers was significantly higher than that in high-stage cancers. Among the patients whose primary pancreatic cancers had been resected, the long-term survivors were seen in the BM-FN-positive groups. These results suggest that FN may play an important role in inhibiting the invasion and metastasis of pancreatic cancer.
