Expression of Ezrin and Phosphorylated Ezrin (pEzrin) in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma

It has been suggested that ezrin activation plays a key role in the regulation of cancer metastasis. In this study, we immunohistochemically investigated the expression patterns of total ezrin and its two phosphorylated forms, pEzrin(-Thr567) and pEZrin(-Tyr353), in 66 samples of invasive pancreatic carcinomas and 11 samples of normal pancreas tissues. Positive expressions of ezrin and pEzrin(-Thr567) were detected in most PDAC tissues, significantly higher than that of pEZrin(-Tyr353). Furthermore, overexpression of pEzrin(-Tyr353) in pancreatic cancers was associated with positive lymph node metastasis, less differentiation, pAkt overexpression, and shorter survival times. pEzrin(-Tyr353) may be a potent prognosis predictor for pancreatic cancer.