Stathmin 1 promotes the proliferation and malignant transformation of pancreatic intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms.

Abstract

Pancreatic intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMNs) are a type of pancreatic tumor, which have been identified following improvements in diagnostic imaging. However, the malignant transformation of IPMN has been difficult to diagnose clinically. To date, the mechanisms driving the progression of IPMN to cancer remain to be fully elucidated. The present study focused on Stathmin 1 (STMN1), a protein that is associated with the development of various types of cancer. The expression of STMN1 was examined immunohistochemically in tissues from cases of IPMN. The correlation between the STMN1 staining and clinical pathological factors was evaluated, and the expression of STMN1, p27 and S-phase kinase-associated protein 2 (SKP2) were compared. High expression levels of STMN1 were significantly correlated with regions of malignancy, and was associated with high expression of SKP2, low expression of nuclear p27 and a high Ki-67 index. High expression levels of STMN1 and SKP2 were significantly correlated with the transformation of IPMN to carcinoma. In addition, within the regions of carcinoma, the expression of STMN1 was weak in regions of adenoma and high in the cancerous regions. It was concluded that the high expression of STMN1 contributed to tumor proliferation and malignant transformation in the patients with IPMN. These results suggested that characterization of the expression of STMN1 may be a promising approach for predicting malignant transformation of pancreatic intraductal papillary mucinous adenoma.