TGF-beta and p53 staining in CT-guided and endoscopic ultrasound fine-needle aspirates of pancreatic adenocarcinoma.
Our purpose was to determine if fine-needle aspirates of pancreatic adenocarcinoma would produce material amenable to tumor marker staining and to correlate the expression of TGF-beta and p53 with patient and tumor data. One hundred twenty specimens were analyzed. TGF-beta was positive in 26% of cases and had no correlation with patient's age, sex, survival, stage, grade, or size. p53 was positive in 22% of the cases and correlated only with grade 1 tumors. Expression of TGF-beta and p53 can be tested on preserved cytologic specimens. This is the largest study to date correlating TGF-beta and p53 expression in pancreatic adenocarcinoma and patient demographics, prognosis, and tumor attributes. This is also the first study that did not select for surgical candidates. TGF-beta expression does not appear to have prognostic significance in pancreatic cancer. p53 was more common in well-differentiated tumors and may be an early mutation lost in more poorly differentiated tumors.