24 h later, the top chamber
was removed, washed with EPZ004777 molecular weight PBS, and fixed with 40 ml/l paraformaldehyde for 20 min. Unmigrated cells staying at the upper layer of the microporous membrane were gently scraped with a wet cotton swab and the migrated cells at the lower layer were stained by 0.1% of crystal violet for 10 min. The top chamber was then washed with PBS to remove excess stain and dried. The stained migrated cells were visualized with the phase contrast microscope. The average number of migrated cells per field was quantified under high power (×200). Statistical analysis Data were presented as mean ± standard deviation (SD). Experiments were repeated at least three times. SPSS 17.0 software (IBM, USA) was used for data analysis. Group differences were analyzed by Student t test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), χ2 test or Fisher exact test according to the data type. Spearman rank correlation analysis was used to examine the correlation between RGC-32 positive expression and E-cadherin abnormal expression in pancreatic cancer tissues. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results The expression of RGC-32 and E-cadherin in normal pancreas, chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic
cancer selleck kinase inhibitor tissues and the relationships with clinicopathological features Immunohistochemical staining revealed that RGC-32 was expressed in pancreatic cancer as well click here as chronic pancreatitis and normal pancreas. RGC-32 staining was predominantly observed in the cytoplasm of pancreatic acinar cells (Figure 1A-C). Both the positive expression
rate and staining intensity of RGC-32 in pancreatic cancer tissues were significantly higher than those in normal pancreatic tissues and pancreatitis tissues, but no significant differences were found between normal pancreatic tissues and pancreatitis tissues (Table 2). Figure 1 Representative immunohistochemical staining for RGC-32(A-C) and E-cadherin (D-F) in pancreatic cancer, chronic pancreatitis and normal pancreas tissues (original magnification × 200). (A) RGC-32 highly positive staining in pancreatic cancer tissues (B) RGC-32 positive staining in chronic pancreatitis tissues (C) RGC-32 slightly positive staining in normal pancreas tissues (D) normal membranous E-cadherin staining (membranous pattern) in pancreatic cancer tissues (E) G protein-coupled receptor kinase cytoplasmic staining with loss of membranous expression (cytoplasmic pattern) in pancreatic cancer tissues (F) loss of E-cadherin staining (absent pattern) in pancreatic cancer tissues. Table 2 Expression of RGC-32 and E-cadherin in normal pancreas, chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer tissues Tissue RGC-32 staining intensity E-cadherin – + ++ +++ Positive/total P-value normal abnormal P-value Normal pancreas 5 3 0 0 3/8 1.000a 8 0 1.000a Chronic pancreatitis 7 3 2 0 5/12 0.028b 11 1 0.004b Pancreatic cancer 9 5 12 16 33/42 0.030c 19 23 0.