Expression of TAK1, pTAK1 proteins and density of tumor associated macrophages in pancreatic carcinoma

Abstract

Objective To investigate the expression of TGF-β activated kinase1 (TAK1), phosphoryted TAK1(p- TAK1) and the density of tumor associated macrophages(TAM) in human pancreatic carcinoma tissues and pairing adjacent normal pancreatic tissues, and explore their relationship. Methods The expression of TAK1, p-TAK1, CD68 (the marker of tumor associated macrophages) proteins in 57 samples of pancreatic cancer tissues and 35 samples of pairing adjacent normal pancreatic tissues were detected by immunohistochemical method, then the density of TAM was evaluated. The relationship between the protein expression and TAM, and the relationship between them and clinicopathologic parameters were examined using SPSS 18.0 software, and the independent risk factors of TNM staging were analyzed by multivariate logistic regression. Results TAK1 and p-TAK1 were positively expressed in 42.1%(24/57) and 40.4%(23/57) pancreatic carcinoma tissues, significantly higher than adjacent normal pancreatic tissues [14.3%(5/35) and 11.4%(4/35)]; the proportion of pancreatic carcinoma tissues with high density TAM was 38.6%(22/57), higher than that of adjacent pancreatic tissues [8.6%(3/35)], the differences were statistically significant(P<0.05). TAK1 expression was positively related to tumor size, tumor differentiation, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis and clinical staging; p-TAK1 expression was positively related to tumor differentiation, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis and clinical staging; the density of TAM was positively related tumor differentiation, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis and clinical staging (all the P values were less than 0.05). The expression of TAK1 and p-TAK1were positively correlated with the density of TAM(P<0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that high density of TAM was independently associated with advanced clinical staging (P=0.002, OR=129.5, 95%CI 6.2~2718.6). Conclusions TAK1 pathway and TAM may play an important role in the pathogenesis and progression of pancreatic cancer, and there may be synergy effect between them. Key words: Pancreatic neoplasm; Immunohistochemistry; TGF-β activated kinase-1; Tumour associated macrophage