Abstract
Purpose
The extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) 1/2 pathway plays important roles in the regulation of cell proliferation, differentiation and cell survival. The caudal-related homeobox protein CDX2 is essential for the development of the intestine, and is related to gastric and gallbladder cancers with the intestinal phenotype. However, the roles of ERK1/2 phosphorylation (pERK1/2) and CDX2 in cholangiocarcinogenesis remain unknown.
Methods
We investigated the expression of pERK1/2, CDX2 and MUC2 in Thai cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) specimens by means of immunohistochemical staining, and compared the expression of these proteins with clinicopathological factors.
Results
The pERK1/2 protein was expressed in 29 of 59 (49.2%) CCA cases. Interestingly, in tubular-type CCA, the frequency of pERK1/2 expression was associated with a higher grade of differentiation (P = 0.001). CDX2 expression was observed in 22 of the 59 (37.3%) CCA cases, showed a relationship with MUC2 expression (P = 0.001), and was much higher in papillary-type than tubular-type CCA (P = 0.002).
Conclusion
These results imply that pERK1/2 may be important for the differentiation of tubular-type CCA, while CDX2 is related to the intestinal phenotype of papillary-type CCA.
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Abbreviations
- CCA:
-
Cholangiocarcinoma
- ERK:
-
Extracellular signal-regulated kinase
- OV:
-
Opisthorchis viverrini
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Acknowledgment
This work was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, Japan.
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Jinawath, A., Akiyama, Y., Yuasa, Y. et al. Expression of phosphorylated ERK1/2 and homeodomain protein CDX2 in cholangiocarcinoma. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 132, 805–810 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-006-0129-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-006-0129-1