Expression and clinical value of peroxiredoxin-1 in patients with pancreatic cancer

Background: Peroxiredoxin-1 (Prx-1) is an important protector for redox damage and its abnormal expression is continually reported in various tumors. This study aims to investigate the expression status of Prx-1 and evaluate its clinical value in pancreatic cancer. Methodology: Immunohistochemistry was used to detect Prx-1 expression in pancreatic cancer tissues and para-cancerous tissues. Enzyme-inked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method was applied to detect the serum Prx-1 levels. Results: The immunohistochemical results indicated that positive rate of Prx-1 was (p < 0.05) higher in pancreatic cancer tissues (74.4%) than in para-cancerous tissues (37.2%). Prx-1 expression was positively correlated with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and microvessel density (MVD) in cancer tissues. The ELISA results showed that patients with pancreatic cancer had a higher serum Prx-1 level than healthy subjects (31.2 +/- 13.5 vs. 13.2 +/- 11.9 ng/ml, p < 0.001). Prx-1 expression was correlated with aggressive clinicopathological parameter. The combination of serum Prx-1 and CA19-9, the area under the curve (AUC) was significantly higher than Prx-1 separate. Positive Prx-1 expression was correlated with disappointing overall survival (OS) (p = 0.002) and disease-free survival (DFS) (p < .001). Multivariate analysis showed that Prx-1 staining as an independent biomarker of poor OS (p = 0.035) and DFS (p < .001). Conclusion: These findings suggest that the levels of Prx-1 expression are significantly increased in pancreatic cancer. The up-regulated Prx-1 is closely related to tumor angiogenesis and acts as a promising tumor marker for diagnosis and prognosis of pancreatic cancer. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.