Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P04637 (p53)
 77,613 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The pathobiology of precursor lesions leading to invasive pancreatic adenocarcinoma remains a controversial area, but knowledge of the mechanisms of tumorigenesis may lead to possibly earlier detection, prevention, and treatment in the future. We hypothesize that ductal hyperplasia and dysplasia of the pancreas represent precursor lesions and are part of a continuous developmental spectrum evolving into ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. To further define this sequence, we studied the immunohistochemical markers HER-2/neu, K-ras, and p53 in 15 adenocarcinomas and 15 nonmalignant specimens of the pancreas. The 15 nonmalignant specimens of the pancreas included both normal pancreas and chronic pancreatitis. Overall, HER-2/neu was positive in normal ducts, ductal hyperplasia, dysplasia, and carcinoma cells in 0 of 30, 11 of 20 (55%), 10 of 15 (67%), and 12 of 15 (80%), respectively, with progressive increase in the intensity of staining; p53 was positive in 1 of 30 (3%), 0 of 20, 3 of 15 (20%), and 13 of 15 (80%), respectively, and K-ras was positive in 1 of 30 (3%), 6 of 20 (30%), 11 of 15 (73%), and 8 of 15% (53%), respectively. These data support the hypothesis that ductal hyperplasia and dysplasia of the pancreas represent precursor lesions, and, in a fashion similar to that in colorectal tumorigenesis, pancreatic cancer seems to accumulate progressive genetic alterations.
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PMID:Immunohistochemical evaluation of K-ras, p53, and HER-2/neu expression in hyperplastic, dysplastic, and carcinomatous lesions of the pancreas: evidence for multistep carcinogenesis. 1002 38

Because of the difficulty in obtaining biopsy specimens from pancreatic cancer patients, K-ras mutation analysis in pancreatic juice has been used for specific diagnosis. But recently, false positives have been obtained with this method. To improve the genetic diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, detection of p53 gene mutation in pancreatic juice was studied. Pancreatic juice was sampled endoscopically. Single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis was used for p53 mutation analysis. Furthermore, K-ras mutations at codon 12 were also studied in the same pancreatic cancer patients. Of 26 cases of pancreatic cancer, p53 mutations were detected in 11 (42.3%). No mutations were seen in the cases with mucin-producing adenoma nor with chronic pancreatitis. K-ras mutations were detected in 84.0% of cases by RFLP analysis, which has high sensitivity, and in 65.3% by hybridization protection assay, which has high specificity. Using a combination assay with both genes, genetic abnormalities were detected in 92.0% by RFLP and 73.1% by hybridization protection assay including two cases in which p53 alone was positive by both methods. The specificity of p53 mutation for pancreatic cancer is very high. Therefore, simultaneous analysis of p53 and K-ras mutation is suggested to enhance the genetic diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.
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PMID:Detection of mutations of p53 tumor suppressor gene in pancreatic juice and its application to diagnosis of patients with pancreatic cancer: comparison with K-ras mutation. 1035 50

Chromosomal abnormalities, including mutations, deletions and allelic losses of different oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes have been discovered in the DNA of cancer cells and the application of molecular biological techniques now permits identification of these alterations in tumours. Although it has been possible to detect potentially important genetic alterations in tumour material for some years, it is now evident that many neoplasms shed tumour cells into sputum, urine, bile, pancreatic juice, faeces and blood of infected patients. Mutated DNA has also been detected free in the plasma of patients with cancer, and the DNA alternations in plasma are identical to those in the DNA of the primary cancer cells. Thus, the identification of DNA mutations in plasma, pancreatic juice and faeces might be a useful approach for the early detection and monitoring of patients with pancreatic cancer. The K-ras gene is mutated in over 90% of pancreatic cancer. These mutations are well defined, reliably detected by DNA application in assays and occur early in the genesis of pancreatic cancer. K-ras mutations can be detected in cancer tissue and pancreatic duct secretions. K-ras mutations have also been detected in stool of patients with pancreatic cancer. Invasive techniques for obtaining pancreatic juice or pancreatic tissue are undesirable and would certainly be inappropriate for cancer screening. Similarly, there is a lack of enthusiasm for developing diagnostic techniques that involve faecal extractions. Isolation of plasma DNA from pancreatic patients and detection of K-ras alterations with a PCR assay and subsequent product sequencing showed K-ras mutations in the plasma of 17 out of 21 patients (81%), and in cases in which both plasma and pancreatic tissue were available, DNA mutations were similar in plasma and tissue. Plasma DNA alterations were found 5-14 months before the clinical diagnosis of pancreatic cancer in 4 patients. K-ras mutations are also demonstrated in micro-dissected tissues taken from patients with pancreatic hyperplasia, with or without chronic pancreatitis. This has lead to the suggestion that pancreatic cell hyperplasia may be a premalignant condition although the demonstration of K-ras alterations in some cases of chronic pancreatitis has raised doubts about the sensitivity and specificity of K-ras testing for pancreatic cancer. However, the detection of K-ras mutations in plasma may still identify patients with or at risk of developing pancreatic cancer as it may only be in these patients that sufficient quantities of mutated DNA enter and can be detected in plasma. Thus, this non-invasive approach to early cancer detection may be applicable both to diagnosis of the symptomatic patient and for screening. A combined approach with other tumour markers such as p53 gene might increase the sensitivity of the test.
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PMID:Diagnosis of pancreatico-biliary malignancy: detection of gene mutations in plasma and stool. 1043

In the present study we examined the localization and overexpression of heat shock proteins (hsps), mainly hsp90, in pancreatic carcinoma tissue compared with control tissue (including chronic pancreatitis and normal pancreas tissue), with the aid of immunohistochemical staining, in situ hybridization and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. Hsp90 alpha mRNA was overexpressed more highly in pancreatic carcinoma than in the control tissue. The proliferating-cell-nuclear-antigen labeling index was also high in pancreatic carcinoma tissue compared with the other tissue. These findings suggest that the overexpression of hsp90 alpha mRNA in carcinomas may be correlated with cell proliferation. However, hsp90 beta was constitutively overexpressed almost equally in all groups of pancreatic tissue including pancreatic carcinoma, chronic pancreatitis and normal pancreas tissue. Immunohistochemical staining demonstrated a differentiation in the expression of hsp90 between histological types of pancreatic carcinoma. These findings suggest that hsp90 alpha is involved in carcinogenesis and that hsp90 beta is correlated to structural conformation. Hsp90 alpha and hsp90 beta seem to perform different functions in tissue containing malignant cells. P53, MDM2 and WAF1, that were cell-cycle-related oncogene product were more strongly expressed in the nuclei of the cancer cells of the cancer tissue. Especially, MDM2 was more strongly expressed in mucinous carcinoma and the mucin secreting tissues surrounding pancreatic carcinoma tissue. The expression of MDM2 protein might also be correlated to secretion systems during structural conformation and be correlated to hsp90 beta.
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PMID:Overexpression and localization of heat shock proteins mRNA in pancreatic carcinoma. 1085 51

Pancreatic cancer belongs to the neoplasms which are characterised by increasing morbidity and mortality. Five-year survival rates of about 0.4% are the norm, and little has changed in the last 70 years. Important etiological factors are age, sex, diet, tobacco smoking, alcohol abuse, occupation and chemical exposure, hereditary chronic pancreatitis, and previous surgery (cholecystectomy and gastrectomy). The majority of exocrine tumours of the pancreas are malignant and 80-90% of them comprise ductal adenocarcinomas. The development and growth of pancreatic carcinoma appears to be caused by a progressive accumulation of multiple genetic abnormalities. This includes oncogene (K-ras) activation, loss of tumour-suppressor p53 gene function and overexpression of growth factors and their ligands. The morphological background for the development of pancreatic carcinoma is ductal epithelial hyperplasia. Current molecular studies have resulted in the identification of cell clones exhibiting the same genetic alterations (K-ras and p53 mutations) as in infiltrating pancreatic carcinoma. Pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia is only partially defined. The purpose of our study was to evaluate Ki-67 proliferative index and HER-2/neu gene expression in pancreatic intraepithelial proliferative lesions as a sign of increasing epithelial proliferation and dysplasia. Additionally we made an attempt to apply morphometry in demarcating between intraepithelial proliferations of "reactive" type and proliferations with tendency towards progression to cancer. Another aim of the study was to evaluate the expression of bcl-2 and p53 genes in various types of pancreatic intraepithelial proliferations and in pancreatic cancer and to answer the question whether they interact in the process of pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia. We have also undertaken investigations aiming at determination of the CD44s gene and its v6 isoform expression in intraductal and invasive pancreatic carcinoma, attempting to correlate this expression with the p53 gene mutations. The results of our study indicate that intraductal pancreatic proliferations form a group of heterogeneous lesions possessing different proliferative activity of cells, karyometric features and HER-2/neu, bcl-2 and p53 genes expression. The precancerous lesion in the pancreas may be atypical papillary hyperplasia, which is similar to intraductal carcinoma with respect to the proliferative activity of cells and HER-2/neu, bcl-2 and p53 expression. Pancreatic carcinoma is characterised by high p53, CD44s and CD44v6 expression and low bcl-2 expression. CD44 and p53 genes expression is independent and between bcl-2 and p53 expression there is an inverse correlation. The p53 and CD44v6 expression is the higher the lower is the histological grade of the pancreatic carcinoma.
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PMID:[Morphologic, morphometric and immunohistochemical studies on pancreatic intraductal hyperplasia and infiltrating carcinoma]. 1090 69

The diagnosis of biliary disease, namely malignant disorders, is frequently hampered by the inconclusive cytology. We investigated prospectively the frequency of molecular changes in p53 and ras compared with cytology in patients with primary or secondary hepato-biliary disease. We investigated 118 consecutive patients, aged 24-89 with the following clinical diagnoses: choledocho/cholecystolithiasis (28), cholangiocellular carcinoma (21), gall bladder tumor (8), liver metastasis (3), autoimmune disease (8), chronic pancreatitis (16), pancreatic carcinoma (11), papillary disease (4), hepatic cirrhosis (6), cholangitis (2), anomalies (2), and normal (9). Bile was aspirated during routine endoscopic retrograde cholangio pancreatography (ERCP) or percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography (PTC). DNA was prepared freshly from a native aliquot. p53 mutations were detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for exons 5 through 8 followed by TGGE. PCR for ras mutations was performed as RFLP-PCR with sequencing. In four cases, mutations in p53 could be found in exons 6 and 7. Twenty-two samples showed ras mutations; ras mutations were found in choledocholithiasis (4/28), bile duct (5/21), gall bladder (3/8) and pancreatic (1/11) carcinoma, liver metastasis (3/3), ulcerative colitis (2/3), PSC (1/2), and chronic pancreatitis (1/16). Cytology was clearly positive in seven cases, suspicious in three other, inconclusive in six, and negative in the rest. The molecular analysis resulted in a sensitivity of 33% and specificity of 87%, respectively, for the diagnosis of a malignant condition. PCR for p53 and ras mutations may aid the diagnosis of primary and secondary (metastatic) hepatobiliary disease if a malignant condition of the bile ducts and the liver is suspected and cytology is inconclusive or negative. However, the incidence of p53 and ras mutations in bile seems less frequent than in other malignant conditions of the gastrointestinal tract and the pancreas and lower than in tissue, leaving a poor sensitivity and specificity. Nevertheless, the presence of a p53 and/or ras mutation per se supports a clinical suspicion of malignancy, even when the conventional cytology is negative or inconclusive.
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PMID:Low frequency of p53 and ras mutations in bile of patients with hepato-biliary disease: a prospective study in more than 100 patients. 1126 52

K-ras point mutation, p53 over-expression, and telomerase activity have been proposed as molecular markers for clinical diagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma. To evaluate the clinical usefulness of these markers, we performed comparative analysis in 61 resected pancreatic samples including 15 intraductal papillary-mucinous tumours (IPMTs), 4 mucinous cystic tumours, 37 ductal adenocarcinomas, and five chronic pancreatitis samples. K-ras point mutation, telomerase activity, and p53 overexpression were analyzed using mutant allele specific amplification, the telomeric repeat amplification protocol, and immunohistochemical staining, respectively. In malignant tumours, K-ras mutation, telomerase activity, and p53 overexpression were detectable in 76, 91, and 46%, respectively, while in benign tumours, these alterations were detectable in 38, 0, and 0%, respectively. Among 15 IPMTs, K-ras mutation was detectable in 4 (80%) of 5 IPMT-adenomas, 4 (80%) of 5 IPMT-carcinomas and 2 (66%) of 3 papillary-mucinous carcinomas, which are invasive carcinomas derived from IPMTs. Telomerase activity was not detectable in IPMT-adenomas, but was detected in all 5 IPMT-carcinomas and 3 papillary-mucinous carcinomas. p53 overexpression was not detected in IPMTs, but was detected in 2 (66%) of 3 papillary-mucinous carcinomas, indicating that telomerase is likely to be activated concomitant with carcinogenesis. These results suggest that telomerase activity is the most useful as a differential diagnostic marker between malignant and benign pancreatic tumours.
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PMID:Comparative analysis of K-ras point mutation, telomerase activity, and p53 overexpression in pancreatic tumours. 1257 58

p53 gene mutations play an important role in the pathogenesis of pancreatic carcinomas. Anti-p53 antibodies and p53 protein have been detected in the sera of patients with pancreatic carcinomas. However, very little is known about the clinical significance of these p53 antibodies. We investigated the relationship between anti-p53 antibodies and the presence of p53 protein in cancer cells and the serum, as well as other clinical factors. Anti-p53 antibodies were detected in 19 (23%) of 82 pancreatic-duct-cell carcinomas, and in one (5%) of 21 cases of chronic pancreatitis. However, no antibodies were detected in mucin-producing tumors or in islet-cell tumors of the pancreas. The anti-p53 antibodies were detected in both early and advanced stages. In those patients undergoing surgical resection for pancreatic duct-cell carcinomas, the prognosis of patients who were negative for the anti-p53 antibodies was better than patients who were positive. Of the 11 cases that were positive for anti-53 antibodies, 8 (73%) were also positive for the immunohistochemical expression of p53 protein in cancer cells. However, there was no significant correlation between the presence of anti-p53 antibodies and the serum p53 protein levels. These results suggest that the benefits of measuring the anti-p53 antibody titier as a screening test to detect pancreatic carcinoma are limited, but the presence of anti-p53 antibodies predicts a poor prognosis for postoperative pancreatic carcinoma patients.
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PMID:Clinical implication of anti-p53 antibodies and p53-protein in pancreatic disease. 1262 24

This paper overviewed risk factors of pancreatic cancer. Both genetic and environmental factors may be playing significant roles in the development of pancreatic cancer. Cigarette smoking has been established as a major risk factor for pancreatic cancer, based on findings from almost all epidemiological studies. Long-term smoking cessation may reduce the risk. The evidence that alcohol drinking and coffee consumption increase the risk is not sufficient, although an association with higher level of consumption remains a possibility. Diabetes mellitus, long-standing diabetes in particular, may be a risk factor for pancreatic cancer. Individuals with hereditary pancreatitis or non-hereditary chronic pancreatitis are possibly at increased risk of pancreatic cancer. Higher intake of meat and fat may be associated with an increased risk, while consumption of fruits/vegetables appears to have a protective effect. Individuals with mutations or deletion in such genes as K-ras, p16, p53, DPC4, and BRCA2 increased the risk of developing pancreatic cancer. Cigarette smoking may play a role in the development of these mutations.
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PMID:An Epidemiological Overview of Environmental and Genetic Risk Factors of Pancreatic Cancer. 1271 18

Laser microdissection is considered to be the gold standard of tissue sampling, especially if a defined small tissue area consisting of single or few cells within a heterogeneous tissue compartment is of interest. This sophisticated technique offers the opportunity of rapid and contamination-free tissue sampling for RNA- or DNA-based molecular genetic studies. We have applied laser microdissection to a molecular genetic study of pancreatic intraductal lesions (PanINs) in tissues of chronic pancreatitis, where an exact microdissection of small ducts within a dense fibrous tissue is of paramount importance for following analysis. From nine patients suffering from chronic pancreatitis, formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue specimens were laser microdissected, and a total of 202 normal ducts and PanINs of grade PanIN-1A to grade PanIN-2 were harvested. After whole genome amplification by improved primer extension and preamplification PCR (I-PEP-PCR), microsatellite-PCR based loss of heterozygosity analysis (LOH) of the tumor suppressor gene loci TP53, p16INK4, and DPC4 was performed. One of 85 informative duct lesions (1.2%) had LOH of TP53, 1 of 76 duct lesions (1.3%) had LOH of DPC4, and 2/29 duct lesions (6.9%) showed LOH of p16INK4. Microsatellite instability (MSI) was seen in 2 of 178 duct lesions (1.1%). Immunohistochemical staining of p53 protein and DPC4 protein revealed no aberrant expression. These preliminary data indicate that LOH of tumor suppressor genes, important in pancreatic cancer genesis or MSI, can be found in chronic pancreatitis tissues, but their incidence is low.
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PMID:Laser microdissection of small tissue samples--application to chronic pancreatitis tissues. 1292 36


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