Cathepsin D Expression and Gemcitabine Resistance in Pancreatic Cancer.
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ABSTRACT: Background:Cathepsin-D (CatD), owing to its dual role as a proteolytic enzyme and as a ligand, has been implicated in cancer progression. The role of CatD in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is unknown. Methods:CatD expression quantified by immunohistochemistry of tumor-tissue microarrays of 403 resected pancreatic cancer patients from the ESPAC-Tplus trial, a translational study within the ESPAC (European Study Group for Pancreatic Cancer) trials, was dichotomously distributed to low and high H scores (cut off 22.35) for survival and multivariable analysis. The validation cohort (n?=?69) was recruited based on the hazard ratio of CatD from ESPAC-Tplus. 5-fluorouracil-, and gemcitabine-resistant pancreatic cancer cell lines were employed for mechanistic experiments. All statistical tests were two-sided. Results:Median overall survival was 23.75?months and median overall survival for patients with high CatD expression was 21.09 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 17.31 to 24.80) months vs 27.20?(95% CI = 23.75 to 31.90) months for low CatD expression (?2 LR, 1DF = 4.00; P?=?.04). Multivariable analysis revealed CatD expression as a predictive marker in gemcitabine-treated (z stat = 2.33; P?=?.02) but not in 5-fluorouracil-treated (z stat = 0.21; P?=?.82) patients. An independent validation cohort confirmed CatD as a negative predictive marker for survival (?2 LR, 1DF = 6.80; P?=?.009) and as an independent predictive marker in gemcitabine-treated patients with a hazard ratio of 3.38 (95% CI = 1.36 to 8.38, P =?.008). Overexpression of CatD was associated with a concomitant suppression of the acid sphingomyelinase, and silencing of CatD resulted in upregulation of acid sphingomyelinase with rescue of gemcitabine resistance. Conclusions:Adjuvant gemcitabine is less effective in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma with high CatD expression, and thus CatD could serve as a marker for biomarker-driven therapy.
SUBMITTER: Mahajan UM
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7050148 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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