Objective: To elucidate the expression of the bcl-2 gene in association with both biological characteristics of human primary pancreatic carcinoma and patient’s prognosis.
Methods: The s-p immunohistochemistry assay was used to detect the expression of the bcl-2 gene on paraffin-embedded sections from 97 cases of primary pancreatic carcinoma, 32 cases of pancreatitis, and 21 cases of normal pancreas.
Results: Among the 97 cases of pancreatic carcinoma, 70 (72.2%) showed positive staining for the bcl-2 protein. In the 32 cases of pancreatitis, 3 (9.4%) showed positive immunostaining for the bcl-2, and in the normal pancreas cases, 1 (4.8%) showed positive immunostaining for the bcl-2. However, the positive staining rates of the bcl-2 protein were lower in tumor tissue from the patients with metastases and tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stages III, IV than in those from those with non-metastases, well differentiation, non-invasion and TNM stages I, II. The patients with positive immunostaining of bcl-2 have a longer postoperative survival than those with negative staining.
Conclusions: Pancreatic carcinoma expressed a high positivity for bcl-2. Findings suggested that the overexpression of bcl-2 is related to the carcinogenesis and progression of human pancreatic carcinoma. Bcl-2 might be one of the parameters in terms of biological characteristics and good prognosis in patients with pancreatic carcinoma.