relation between tumors with extensive pS2 staining and
tumors with less intense staining in terms of lymph node
metastasis (Chi-square, p = 0.041, Kendall Tau:
p = 0.024, r = –0,373). In the R0 resection group, in uni-
variate analysis, we found that with higher scores of
HSP-70 staining, the prognosis of the patient tended to
improve. (Cox regression, p = 0.013). In multivariate
analysis, HSP-70 expression was found to be an inde-
pendent prognostic factor. We found no relationship be-
tween pS2 staining and patient survival.
Key words: HSP-70 – pS2 – Pancreatic adenocarcinoma.
Introduction
It has generally been recognized that curative surgical
resection is the only clinical parameter related to a fa-
vorable prognosis in pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Prog-
nostically relevant factors based on the pathological as-
sessment of the resected pancreas, such as T and nodal
stages, tumor grade, lymph vessel and perineural inva-
sion and resection margins, were found to influence pa-
tient survival in a number of studies [1, 2, 8, 15, 23, 24].
It is possible that the fate of patients with resectable car-
cinomas is determined by tumor-biological factors. Sev-
Summary
We investigated pS2 and HSP-70 protein expression in
36 pancreatic adenocarcinomas for their effect on dis-
ease extent and patient outcome. The cases were re-
viewed, histologically diagnosed, typed, graded, and
staged. Lymphatic vessel, blood vessel and perineural
invasion as well as lymph node, resection margin and
adjacent organ involvements were re-evaluated. The
standard streptavidin biotin immunperoxidase method
was used for immunostaining with pS2 and HSP-70 an-
tibodies. Cytoplasmic staining with both antibodies was
scored semiquantitatively. The scores were compared
with histopathological prognostic parameters using sta-
tistical methods. Standard prognostic parameters and
staining scores were tested by survival analysis in terms
of their effect on survival.
All the tumors showed a positive cytoplasmic reac-
tion with HSP-70 antibody. Seventy-seven percent of
the tumors showed positive cytoplasmic staining with
pS2 antibody (22.2% +, 13.9% ++ and 41.7% +++).
There was a statistically significant difference between
HSP-70 staining scores with N status and final stages of
the tumors (Chi-square, p = 0.03 and p = 0.026, respec-
tively), while neither direct nor inverse correlation was
detected for both parameters. PS2 staining scores
showed no statistically significant relationship with
tumor grade T, M status, perineural invasion, lymph and
blood vessel invasion. In tumors with extensive staining
with pS2, tumor stage tended to be low (Chi square,
p = 0.024, Kendall Tau-b, r: –0.336, p = 0.036). There
was a statistically significant difference and inverse cor-
Original Paper
Immunohistochemical Detection of PS2 Protein
and Heat Shock Protein-70 in Pancreatic
Adenocarcinomas. Relationship with Disease
Extent and Patient Survival
Özgul Sagol
1
, Burçin Tuna
1
, Ahmet Çoker
2
,
Sedat Karademir
2
, Funda Obuz
3
, Hüseyin Astarcıog ˇ lu
2
,
Ali Küpeliog ˇ lu
1
, I
·
brahim Astarcıog ˇ lu
2
, Ömer Topalak
4
1
Department of Pathology,
2
Department of Surgery,
3
Department of Radiology, and
4
Department of Gastroenterology, Dokuz Eylül University Hospital, I
·
zmir, Turkey
Pathol. Res. Pract. 198: 77–84 (2002) 0344-0338/02/198/2-77 $15.00/0
PATHOLOGY
RESEARCH AND PRACTICE
© Urban & Fischer Verlag
http://www.urbanfischer.de/journals/prp
Address for correspondence: Özgul Sagol, Dokuz Eylül
Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Patoloji ABD, 35340, I
·
nciraltı/
I
·
zmir, Turkey. Tel: +90-232/277-7777-3407;
Fax: +90-232/277-7274; E-mail: sagolo@deu.edu.tr