The abnormal expression rate of E-cadherin was significantly increased in pancreatic cancer tissues compared with normal pancreas and chronic pancreatitis tissues, but no significant differences were found between normal pancreatic tissues and pancreatitis tissues

(Table 2). The relationships between immunostaining and clinicopathological characteristics of all 42 pancreatic cancer patients were shown in Table 3. Age and gender showed no correlation with either RGC-32 or E-cadherin (P > 0.05). Both lymph node metastasis and TNM staging were significantly correlated with RGC-32 and E-cadherin (P < 0.05). The positive expression

rate of RGC-32 and the abnormal expression rate of E-cadherin were found to be increased GSK2126458 in tumors with a less advanced pathological stage and higher TNM classification. Tumor differentiation was also correlated with abnormal expression rate of E-cadherin (P < 0.05) but not with the expression of RGC-32 (P > 0.05). The abnormal E-cadherin expression rate was higher in poorly-differentiated-type tumors than in well-differentiated-type counterparts. Table 3 Correlation between clinicopathological findings and immunochemical staining   cases RGC-32 Selumetinib positive Abnormal E-cadherin     n % P-value n % P-value Age       0.831     0.990    < 45 7 5 71.4   4 57.1   45-59 22 18 81.8   12 54.5      > = 60 13 10 76.9   7 53.8   Gender       1.000 ID-8     1.000    Male 21 17 81.0   11 52.4      Female 21 16

76.2   12 57.1   Differentiation       0.629     0.024    Well 16 12 75.0   5 31.3      Moderately 11 8 72.7   6 54.5      Poorly 15 13 86.7   12 80.0   Lymph node metastasis       0.016     0.004    Negative 16 9 56.3   4 25.0      Positive 26 24 92.3   19 73.1   TNM staging       0.025     0.004    I-II 18 11 61.1   5 27.8      III-IV 24 22 91.7   18 75.0   Furthermore, a significant and positive correlation was found between positive expression of RGC-32 and abnormal expression of E-cadherin (R = 0.458, P < 0.01, Table 4). Table 4 Correlation between RGC-32 expression and E-cadherin expression in pancreatic cancer tissues     E-cadherin     abnormal normal R-value P-value RGC-32 + 22 11 0.458 0.002   – 1 8     TGF-β induces EMT and enhances RGC-32 expression in BxPC-3 cells TGF-β1 (10 ng/ml) treatment of pancreatic cancer cell line BxPC-3 for 72 h caused remarkable changes in cell morphology from a more epithelial-like appearance to a mesenchymal-like spindle-cell shape and increased intercellular separation (Figure 2A).