Oncologic impact of monocarboxylate transporter 4 (MCT4) in pancreatic cancer.

Abstract

319 Background: Transporters for monocarboxylate play an integral role in cancer metabolism in terms of the regulation of intracellular pH. The aim of our study is to check the oncologic impact of Monocarboxylate Transporter 4 (MCT4) expression in pancreatic cancer. Methods: To identify oncologic impact of MCT4 in pancreatic cancer, we performed immunohistochemical (IHC) stains for MCT4 in paraffin embedded block of resected pancreatic cancer tissue. MCT4 expression was correlated with short-term and long-term oncologic outcomes. Results: Fifty patients were enrolled to this study and formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue block of surgically resected pancreatic cancer and survival data were used for identify the oncologic impact of MCT4. Overall expression of MCT4 in pancreatic cancer was observed (84.5% above intensity grade 1) compared to normal pancreatic tissue in immunohistochemical stain. High expression of MCT4 was observed in twenty-two patients (44%). There were no statistical difference regarding tumor size, T-stage, N-stage, perineural invasion, lymphovascular invasion, tumor grade, R0 resection, and postoperative adjuvant treatment between high and low MCT4 expression group (p>0.05). However, high MCT4 expression group showed significantly poorer cancer-specific survivals than low expression group (median survival; 15 vs. 32 months, p=0.001). Conclusions: The expression of monocarboxylate transporter 4 (MCT4) was identified as poor prognostic factor in pancreatic cancer. Further study to identify the possibility of MCT4 as a potential therapeutic target for treating pancreatic cancer is mandatory.