Expressions of sonic hedgehog, smoothened and Glioblastoma transcriptional factor in human pancreatic cancer and their correlation with clinicopathologic characteristics

Abstract

Objective To investigate the differential expression of sonic hedgehog (Shh),Smoothened (Smo) and Glioblastoma transcriptional factor (Gli1) in the pancreatic cancers and their adjacent tissues,and their correlation with pathogenesis of pancreatic cancer.Methods Reverse transcriptionpolymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blotting were used to determine the mRNA and protein expression of Shh,Smo and Gli1 in 50 cases of pancreatic cancers and their adjacent tissues.The relationship between the expression of Shh,Smo and Gli1 and the clinicopathological features of pancreatic cancer was analyzed.Results The expression of Shh,Smo and Gli1 mRNA in pancreatic cancer was 0.309 ± 0.162,0.327 ±0.264 and 0.341 ±0.132,and that in the para-cancerous adjacent tissue was 0.184 ± 0.227,0.148 ±0.276 and 0.105 ±0.351 respectively (P ＜0.05).The expression of Shh,Smo and Gli1 protein in pancreatic cancer was 0.624 ±0.139,0.547 ±0.418 and 0.563 ±0.271,and that in paracancerous adjacent tissue was 0.388 ± 0.294,0.294 ± 0.152 and 0.328 ± 0.129 respectively (P ＜ 0.05).The expression levels of Shh,Smo and Gli1 mRNA and protein in pancreatic cancer tissue were higher than in paracancerous adjacent tissue.The overexpression of Shh,Smo and Gli1 was correlated with differentitation of pancreatic cancer cells (P ＜ 0.05),but not with age,tumor size,TNM grade,invasion to nerves and vascellum,lymph node metastasis and distant metastasis (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion The expression level of Shh,Smo and Gli1 is increased in human pancreatic cancer cells.The overexpression of hedgehog signaling pathway might play an important role in carcinogenesis and development of pancreatic cancer. Key words: Pancreatic cancer; Sonic hedgehog; Smoothened ; Glioblastoma transcriptional factor ; Hedgehog pathway