摘要目的 探讨Toll样受体4(TLR4)在胰腺癌组织中的表达及其与肿瘤血管生成的关系.方法 采用免疫组化SP法检测62例经病理证实的胰腺癌手术切除标本及35例癌旁正常胰腺组织中TLR4蛋白表达,采用CD31抗体标记微血管内皮细胞,计算微血管密度(MVD).分析TLR4蛋白表达与胰腺癌临床病理特征以及MVD的相关性.结果 胰腺癌组织TLR4蛋白阳性表达率和MVD分别为74.2％ (46/62)和47.3±13.5,均显著高于正常胰腺组织的17.1％ (6/35)和12.6±4.8(P值均＜0.01).有淋巴结转移的胰腺癌组织中TLR4蛋白阳性表达率为83.8％,显著高于无淋巴结转移的60.0％(P=0.036)；TNM分期为Ⅲ+Ⅳ期的胰腺癌组织中TLR4蛋白阳性表达率为85.3％,显著高于Ⅰ+Ⅱ期的60.7％(P =0.028).MVD与肿瘤的大小、淋巴结转移及TNM分期密切相关(P值分别为0.008、0.036、0.010).胰腺癌TLR4蛋白表达与MVD呈显著正相关(Υ=0.534,P＜0.01).结论 TLR4参与胰腺癌的发生、发展,其机制可能与促进肿瘤血管生成有关.

abstractsObjective To investigate Toll-like receptor-4 (TLR4) protein expression in human pancreatic adenocarcinoma,and to evaluate the relationship between TLR4 protein expression and angiogenesis.Methods Sixty-two surgically resected human pancreatic adenocarcinoma specimens and 35 normal para-cancerous tissues were investigated for TLR4 protein expression by immunohistochemical SP methods,and CD31 antibody was used to mark microvascular endothelial cells and determine the microvessel density (MVD).The correlation among TLR4 protein expression and MVD and clinicopathologic features of pancreatic adenocarcinoma were analyzed.Results TLR4 protein positive expression rate and MVD in human pancreatic adenocarcinoma was 74.2％ (46/62) and 47.3 ± 13.5,respectively,which were significantly higher than those in the normal pancreatic tissue [17.1％ (6/35),12.6 ±4.8; P ＜0.01].TLR4 protein positive expression rate in the cases with lymph node metastasis was 83.8％,which was significantly higher than that in the cases without lymph node metastasis (60.0％,P =0.036).TLR4 protein positive expression rate in the patients with stage Ⅲ and Ⅳ of TNM classification was 85.3％,which was significantly higher than that in the patients with stage Ⅰ and Ⅱ (60.7％,P=0.028).MVD was closely related to tumor size,lymph node metastasis and TNM stage of pancreatic adenocarcinoma (P =0.008,0.036,0.010).There was a strong positive correlation between TLR4 protein expression and MVD (r =0.534,P ＜0.01 ).Conclusions TLR4 protein expression is closely related to the development and progression of human pancreatic adenocarcinoma and its potential mechanism is related to the promotion of tumor angiogenesis.