Clinical significance of nerve growth factor and tropomyosin-receptor-kinase signaling pathway in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma

• Published in: World journal of gastroenterology : WJG Vol. 20; no. 14; pp. 4076 - 4084
• Main Author: Yang, Xiao-Qing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Baishideng Publishing Group Co., Limited 14.04.2014
• Subjects: Aged; Bile Duct Neoplasms - metabolism; Bile Ducts, Intrahepatic - metabolism; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Proliferation; Cholangiocarcinoma - metabolism; Evidence-Based Medicine; factor; Female; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; growth; Humans; Immunohistochemistry; Kaplan-Meier Estimate; Male; Middle Aged; Multivariate Analysis; Neoplasm Invasiveness; Neoplasm Metastasis; Neoplasm Staging; Nerve; Nerve Growth Factor - metabolism; Prognosis; Receptor, trkA - metabolism; Signal Transduction; Treatment Outcome; Tropomyosin-receptor-kinase; Progression; Tropomyosin-receptor-kinase; Nerve growth factor; Prognosis; Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma
• ISSN: 1007-9327; 2219-2840; 2219-2840
• DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i14.4076

AIM:To investigate the correlation between nerve growth factor-tropomyosin-receptor-kinase(NGF-TrkA)signaling pathway and prognosis in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma(IHCC).METHODS:NGF and TrkA expression in 83 samples of IHCC was assessed by immunohistochemistry.Correlations between NGF-TrkA expression and clinicopathological features were analyzed byχ2 test.Moreover,we evaluated the association between NGF-TrkA and overall survival by univariate and multivariate analysis.With experiments in vitro,we investigated the crucial role of NGF-TrkA on proliferation and invasion of IHCC cells with recombinant NGF-βstimulation.RESULTS:We found that NGF and TrkA expression was significantly related with differentiation(P=0.024)and intraneural invasion(P=0.003),respectively.Additionally,double higher expression of NGF and TrkA was identified as an independent prognostic factor in IHCC(P=0.003).Moreover,we demonstrated that NGF-TrkA signaling pathway can promote IHCC proliferation and invasion.CONCLUSION:NGF-TrkA double higher expression is an independent prognostic factor in IHCC.NGF-TrkA pathway can promote IHCC progression,indicating that NGF-TrkA may become a potential drug target.