Thioredoxin System Protein Expression in Carcinomas of the Pancreas, Distal Bile Duct, and Ampulla in the United Kingdom

• Published in: Diseases Vol. 12; no. 10; p. 227
• Main Authors: Al-Hadyan, Khaled S, Storr, Sarah J, Zaitoun, Abed M, Lobo, Dileep N, Martin, Stewart G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 24.09.2024; MDPI
• Subjects: Adenocarcinoma; Age; Ampulla of Vater; ampullary cancer; Apoptosis; bile duct cancer; Bile ducts; Brain cancer; Cancer therapies; Cell cycle; Cell growth; Cell survival; Chemotherapy; Development and progression; Enzymes; Health aspects; Homeostasis; Immunohistochemistry; Kinases; Lymph nodes; Metastases; Oxidative stress; Pancreatic cancer; Pancreatic carcinoma; pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma; Patients; periampullary cancer; Physiological aspects; Prognosis; Proteins; Radiation therapy; redox protein; Regression analysis; Thioredoxin; United Kingdom; United Kingdom > UK; bile duct cancer; periampullary cancer; ampullary cancer; thioredoxin; redox protein; pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma
• ISSN: 2079-9721; 2079-9721
• DOI: 10.3390/diseases12100227

Poor survival outcomes in periampullary cancer highlight the need for improvement in biomarkers and the development of novel therapies. Redox proteins, including the thioredoxin system, play vital roles in cellular antioxidant systems. In this retrospective study, thioredoxin (Trx), thioredoxin-interacting protein (TxNIP), and thioredoxin reductase (TrxR) protein expression was assessed in 85 patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and 145 patients with distal bile duct or ampullary carcinoma using conventional immunohistochemistry. In patients with PDAC, high cytoplasmic TrxR expression was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis ( = 0.033). High cytoplasmic and nuclear Trx expression was significantly associated with better overall survival ( = 0.018 and = 0.006, respectively), and nuclear Trx expression remained significant in multivariate Cox regression analysis ( < 0.0001). In distal bile duct and ampullary carcinomas, high nuclear TrxR expression was associated with vascular ( = 0.001) and perineural ( = 0.021) invasion, and low cytoplasmic TxNIP expression was associated with perineural invasion ( = 0.025). High cytoplasmic TxNIP expression was significantly associated with better overall survival ( = 0.0002), which remained significant in multivariate Cox regression analysis ( = 0.013). These findings demonstrate the prognostic importance of Trx system protein expression in periampullary cancers.