Association between high tumor CCL2 expression and poor survival in patients with resectable pancreatic cancer

Abstract

4618 Background: CCL2 (MCP-1) is a chemoattractant protein highly expressed in a variety of cancer types. The expression level of CCL2 has been linked to aggressive disease progression, early dissemination, and poor survival in certain cancers. Therefore, we assessed the potential association between CCL2 expression and patient prognosis in pancreatic cancer. Methods: Cylindrical tissue cores from a large retrospective, nonrandomized series covering 133 patients with resected pancreatic cancer were used to build a tissue microarray. CCL2 expression was determined using immunohistochemistry. Results: High intratumoral CCL2 expression and low intratumoral CCL2 expression were present in 44 (33%) and 89 (67%) tumors, respectively. Kaplan-Meier median survival among patients with low intratumoral CCL2 expression (19.1 months) was longer than that among those with high CCL2 expression (12.1 months). In multivariate analysis, more advanced pathological stage [risk ratio (RR) = 1.57; P = 0.038], poorly differentiated histology (RR = 1.68; P = 0.019), and high CCL2 expression [RR = 1.62; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.05–2.49; P = 0.028] were independent predictors of mortality. Conclusions: High CCL2 expression is a marker of poor prognosis in resected pancreatic cancer. [Table: see text]