Overexpression of Tbx3 Predicts Poor Prognosis of Patients with Resectable Pancreatic Carcinoma

Background: To determine the expressions of Tbx3, a member of subgroup belonging to T-box family, andits prognostic value in pancreatic carcinoma. Materials and
Methods: We determined the expression levels ofTbx3 on both mRNA and protein levels in 30 pairs of fresh tumor tissues and paratumor tissues by quantitativereal-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and Western blotting, respectively. In addition, protein levelof Tbx3 were identified using immunochemistry in 80 pairs of paraffin-embedded specimen. The correlationsbetween Tbx3 expression and various clinicopathological parameters as well as overall survival were evaluated.
Results: Tbx3 mRNA and protein levels in tumor tissues were significantly higher than in the paratumor tissuesby qRT-PCR (0.05 ±0.007 vs. 0.087±0.001, p<0.001) and western blotting (1.134±0.043 vs. 0.287±0.017, p<0.001).The statistical analysis based on immunohistochemical evaluation suggested that Tbx3 aberrant expressionwas significantly associated with several conventional clinicopathological variables, such as gender, age, tumorposition, preoperative CA19-9 level, pathological T staging and N staging. Univariate and multivariate analysesrevealed that Tbx3 expression was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival (<0.001).
Conclusions:Our results suggest that overexpression of Tbx3 is associated with poor prognosis of pancreatic cancer patients.However, additional clinical trials are needed to accurately validate this observation.