ObjectiveTo evaluate the effect of pathological portal vein (PV)/superior mesenteric vein (SMV) invasion during pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) for pancreatic adenocarcinoma and the clinical significance of PD with PV/SMV resection in patients without pathological evidence of venous invasion.MethodsFrom January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2017, data of 183 patients who had PD for pancreatic adenocarcinoma were collected. Eighty-one patients had PD with PV/SMV resection for pancreatic adenocarcinoma, among them, 42 cases (51.9%) had pathological PV/SMV invasion (PD+P/S+ group) and 39 patients (48.1%) didn’t have pathological PV/SMV invasion (PD+P/S− group). One hundred and two patients had a standard PD without PV/SMV resection (control group). Multivariate analysis was used to identify predictive variables which influencing survival and the Kaplan-Meier method to estimate patients’ survival.ResultsThere were no differences in gender, age, preoperative serum CA19-9 level, blood loss, tumor size, tumor TNM stage, positive lymph nodes, ratio of positive lymph nodes, degree of tumor differentiation, perineural invasion, postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy, type of operation, and margin status among 3 groups (P>0.05). And moreover, no significant differences were found between the PD combined PV/SMV resection group and the control group in the incidence of complications and mortality (P>0.05) and all no reoperation happened. Univariate analysis revealed a significant difference in overall survival (OS) among the PD+P/S+ group, PD+P/S– group and control group (P<0.001), median survival time were 10, 19 and 20 months, respectivly. Moreover, depth of PV/SMV invasion, use of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy and tumor differentiation were independent prognostic factors by multivariate survival analysis.ConclusionsOS of patients with PV/SMV invasion is significantly worse than that of patients without PV/SMV invasion, no matter underwent PV/SMV resection or not. The cause of that maybe invade to the tunica intima by tumor limits OS of patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma. OS of PV/SMV-resected patients without pathological PV/SMV invasion is similar to that of patients who had standard PD without PV/SMV resection. Whether the patients can benefit from routine resection of PV/SMV is still controversial.
ObjectiveTo evaluate the effect of transecting the body of pancreas via inferior mesenteric vein (IMV) pathway during pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) with venous resection. MethodsAccording to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, from February 1, 2016 to January 1, 2021, the patients who underwent PD with portal vein / superior mesenteric vein (PV/SMV) resection for resectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma were gathered. According to whether the traditional approach could be adopted to create a tunnel in front of the PV/SMV axis, the patients were allocated to the standard procedure group (S-group) or a modified procedure group (M-group). In the M-group, the patients who transected the pancreatic body via IMV pathway were allocated to the IMV-subgroup, while the patients who transected the pancreatic body via the left side of PV or in the middle of the pancreas were allocated to the central subgroup (C-subgroup). The clinicopathologic characteristics and survival (overall survival) were compared between the M-group and S-group, as well as between the IMV-subgroup and C-subgroup. The survival curve was drawn using Kaplan-Meier method for survival analysis, and the risk factors affecting overall survival by Cox proportional hazards regression model. ResultsA total of 142 patients were gathered, including 77 in the S-group, 65 in the M-group, 29 in the IMV-subgroup and 36 in the C-subgroup. The results of clinicopathologic data of patients among the different groups showed that the M-group had a more intraoperative bleeding (P＜0.001), longer postoperative hospital stay (P=0.021), and a proportion of vascular invasion (P=0.017), as well as the IMV-subgroup only had a higher proportion of vascular invasion (P=0.030) as compared with the S-group; At the same time, compared with the C-subgroup, the IMV-subgroup had a less intraoperative bleeding volume (P＜0.001) and a higher proportion of R0 resection (P=0.031). There were no statistically differences in other clinicopathologic data among the groups (P＞0.05). The analysis of survival curve by Kaplan-Meier method showed that the median overall survival (OS) of IMV-subgroup, C-subgroup, and S-group was 21, 17, and 22 months, respectively. The OS of IMV-subgroup was better than that of the C-subgroup (χ2=4.676, P=0.031), which had no statistical difference between the IMV-subgroup and S-group ( χ2=0.007, P=0.934). The multivariate analysis results showed that the patients with postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy [RR=0.519, 95%CI (0.324, 0.833), P=0.007] and with R0 margin [RR=0.434, 95%CI (0.218, 0.865), P=0.018] were the protective factors affecting the OS, while low tumor differentiation [RR=2.433, 95%CI (1.587, 3.730), P<0.001], PV/SMV pathological invasion [RR=2.788, 95%CI (1.543, 5.039), P=0.001], and tumor infiltration into PV/SMV intima [RR=1.838, 95%CI (1.062, 3.181), P=0.030] were the risk factors affecting the OS. ConclusionsThe results of this study suggest that, transecting the body of pancreas via IMV pathway can improve the rate of R0 resection, improve OS, and do not increase postoperative morbidity and mortality. It may provide a better selection for transecting the body of pancreas when the anterior PV/SMV and posterior surface of the neck of the pancreas are invaded by tumors or has inflammatory adhesion.
ObjectiveTo investigate the influencet of heat shock protein A2 (HSPA2) on the biological behavior of pancreatic adenocarcinoma cells and its mechanism. MethodsThe expression of HSPA2 in the human pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell lines PANC-1, BxPC-3, and AsPC-1 were determined using the Western blot analysis. The expression levels of heat shock protein A2 (HSPA2) were determined in human pancreatic cancer cell lines (PANC-1, BxPC-3, and AsPC-1) using Western blotting. Subsequently, the cells with the lowest and highest HSPA2 expression levels among these three lines were selected for conducting overexpression and knockdown experiments targeting HSPA2, respectively. The cellular proliferation, migration, and invasion capabilities were assessed using MTT, clonogenic, Transwell assays, respectively. Additionally, the impact of HSPA2 on the expression of key markers of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) was examined using the Western blot. The potential target molecules of HSPA2 were identified through immunoprecipitation assay and mass spectrometry. The rescue experiments further explored the regulatory relation between HSPA2 and its target molecules. The influence of HSPA2 on pancreatic adenocarcinoma growth was investigated through establishment of xenograft tumor model in nude mice.ResultsThe HSPA2 exhibited the lowest expression level in the PANC-1 cells and the highest expression level in the AsPC-1 cells among the three cell lines. Subsequent functional studies demonstrated that overexpression of HSPA2 in the PANC-1 cells significantly promoted proliferation, migration, and invasion, while knockdown of HSPA2 expression in the AsPC-1 cells markedly inhibited these processes. The Western blot analysis further showed that HSPA2 overexpression upregulated E-cadherin and downregulated N-cadherin/Vimentin, whereas HSPA2 knockdown produced opposite effects. The rescue experiments indicated that HSPA2 promoted the EMT in pancreatic adenocarcinoma cells by upregulating YAP. The subcutaneous xenograft tumor experiments in the nude mice showed that HSPA2 knockdown inhibited tumour growth. ConclusionThe results of this study suggest that HSPA2 promotes EMT via upregulating YAP, which facilitates proliferation, migration, and invasion of pancreatic adenocarcinoma cells.