Abstract 5351: Phosphorylation of EZH2 at Thr487 is a marker for good prognosis in pancreatic cancer patients.

Abstract

Abstract EZH2 is the catalytic subunit of the polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) and is involved in repressing gene expression through methylation of histone H3 on lysine 27 (H3K27). EZH2 is overexpressed in multiple tumor types and correlates with poor prognosis. We have previous shown that phosphorylation of EZH2 at Thr 487 by CDK1 inhibits its methyltransferase activity. However, the status of phosphorylation of EZH2 at Thr 487 (P-EZH2-T487) and its clinical implication in cancer patients have not been reported. We thus examined P-EZH2-T487 by immunohistochemistry and its association with prognosis in pancreatic cancer patients. We found that P-EZH2-T487 can be seen in 61% (47/77) of pancreatic cancer. In univariate survival analysis, patients with high P-EZH2-T487 had significantly longer overall survival time when compared with those with low P-EZH2-T487 (P=0.032). In multivariate analysis, P-EZH2-T487 was an independent prognostic marker for overall survival in pancreatic cancer (HR=0.358, P=0.001). These results suggest that P-EZH2-T487 is a prognostic indicator for clinical outcome in pancreatic cancer patients. Citation Format: Yongkun Wei, Shih-Shin Chang, Huamin Wang, Weiya Xia, Mien-Chie Hung. Phosphorylation of EZH2 at Thr487 is a marker for good prognosis in pancreatic cancer patients. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5351. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-5351 Note: This abstract was not presented at the AACR Annual Meeting 2013 because the presenter was unable to attend.