Overexpression of β3 Chains of Laminin-332 is Associated With Clinicopathologic Features and Decreased Survival in Patients With Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is one of the most deadly cancers of the gastrointestinal tract. Although diagnosis and treatment methods continue to improve, this cancer is almost invariably fatal. Surgical resection and chemotherapy are the only possible cure for patients with pancreatic carcinoma. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the biological characteristics of the carcinoma and identify better therapy targets to improve the prognosis. Tumor invasion and metastasis may initiate from invading of surrounding tissue and then break through the basement membrane (BM) by tumor cells. Laminins are structural molecules of the extracellular matrix (ECM) that separate epithelial cells from the underlying stromal tissues and play an important role in cell adhesion, growth, migration, proliferation, and differentiation. Laminins are heterotrimeric glycoproteins composed of 3 different chains (α, β, and γ), encoded in humans by 5α, 4β, and 3γ genes.1 At present, 15 different laminin isoforms have been identified in mammals.2 Laminin-332/laminin-5 (LM-332) consists of α3, β3, and γ2 chains, which are encoded by the LAMA3, LAMB3, and LAMC2, genes respectively. At present, the association between the laminin-332 β3 chain and pancreatic cancer has not been studied. We investigated both mRNA and protein expression of LNβ3. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of their expression relative to other typical clinicopathologic variables on outcomes in patients undergoing resection of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.