Research Article

KRAS mutation status is associated with specific pattern of genes expression in pancreatic adenocarcinoma

Department of Medical Oncology, AOU Ospedali Riuniti, Università Politecnica delle Marche, via Conca 71, 60126 Ancona, Italy

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Francesco Piva

Department of Specialistic Clinical & Odontostomatological Sciences, Polytechnic University of Marche, Ancona 60131, Italy

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Matteo Santoni

Department of Medical Oncology, AOU Ospedali Riuniti, Università Politecnica delle Marche, via Conca 71, 60126 Ancona, Italy

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Kalliopi Andrikou

Department of Medical Oncology, AOU Ospedali Riuniti, Università Politecnica delle Marche, via Conca 71, 60126 Ancona, Italy

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Alessandro Conti

Department of Medical Oncology, AOU Ospedali Riuniti, Università Politecnica delle Marche, via Conca 71, 60126 Ancona, Italy

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Cristian Loretelli

Department of Medical Oncology, AOU Ospedali Riuniti, Università Politecnica delle Marche, via Conca 71, 60126 Ancona, Italy

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Alessandra Mandolesi

Department of Pathology, AOU Ospedali Riuniti, Università Politecnica delle Marche, via Conca 71, 60126 Ancona, Italy

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Andrea Lanese

Department of Medical Oncology, AOU Ospedali Riuniti, Università Politecnica delle Marche, via Conca 71, 60126 Ancona, Italy

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Chiara Pellei

Department of Medical Oncology, AOU Ospedali Riuniti, Università Politecnica delle Marche, via Conca 71, 60126 Ancona, Italy

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Marina Scarpelli

Department of Pathology, AOU Ospedali Riuniti, Università Politecnica delle Marche, via Conca 71, 60126 Ancona, Italy

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Giovanni Principato

Department of Specialistic Clinical & Odontostomatological Sciences, Polytechnic University of Marche, Ancona 60131, Italy

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Stefano Cascinu

*Author for correspondence:

E-mail Address: cascinu@yahoo.com

Department of Medical Oncology, AOU Ospedali Riuniti, Università Politecnica delle Marche, via Conca 71, 60126 Ancona, Italy

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Published Online:10 Jul 2015https://doi.org/10.2217/fon.15.98

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Abstract

ABSTRACT

Aims: To evaluate potential differences at a molecular level between KRAS mutant tumors (MT) and KRAS wild-type (WT) pancreatic tumors and the biological and prognostic significance of different KRAS mutations. Materials & methods: Expression of a panel of 29 genes was analyzed in KRAS WT and MT tumors. Effects of KRAS mutation and gene expression levels were assessed on patients’ survival. Results:MUC6 (p = 0.009), HGF (p = 0.011), VEGFR-2 (p = 0.020) and VEGFB (p = 0.026) were significantly more expressed and SMAD4 was less suppressed (p = 0.003) in WT KRAS. Contrariwise, SHH (p = 0.012) and IHH (p = 0.031) were more expressed in MT KRAS patients. No OS difference was found between WT and MT KRAS tumors. Conclusion:KRAS mutation status seems to identify two different subtypes of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma with similar outcome but distinct molecular features and probably different therapeutic targets.

Keywords:

Papers of special note have been highlighted as: • of interest; •• of considerable interest

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Published online 10 July 2015

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Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Ethical conduct of research

The authors state that they have obtained appropriate institutional review board approval or have followed the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki for all human or animal experimental investigations. In addition, for investigations involving human subjects, informed consent has been obtained from the participants involved.

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