INCREASED ANGIOGENIN EXPRESSION IN PANCREATIC-CANCER IS RELATED TO CANCER AGGRESSIVENESS

We have investigated the expression of angiogenin (ANG) in pancreatic cancer and the relevance of ANG expression to the progression of pancr eatic cancer, In comparison to normal pancreas, increased ANG mRNA exp ression was observed in 80.0% of the cases of pancreatic cancer by in situ hybridization, and increased ANG protein expression was observed in 86.7% of the cases of pancreatic cancer using Western blot analysis , The mean serum ANG concentration of pancreatic cancer patients (566. 6 +/- 191.9 ng/ml) was significantly higher (P < 2.0 x 10(-8)) than th at of healthy volunteers (359.0 +/- 59.9 ng/ml). Increased ANG mRNA ex pression as well as elevated serum ANG concentration correlated with p oor prognosis, These findings suggest that ANG expression is up-regula ted in pancreatic cancer patients and that ANG contributes to the aggr essiveness of pancreatic cancer.