Sarcopenia is an independent prognostic factor in PDAC patients with a BMI ≥22. Therefore, evaluating skeletal muscle mass may be a simple and useful approach for predicting patient prognosis.
In the present study, we investigated the role of lysyl oxidase‑like 2 (LOXL2), the correlation between LOXL2 and epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) and the effects of using β‑aminopropionitrile (BAPN) to inhibit LOXL2 with the aim of reducing tumor progression in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The expression level of LOXL2 was evaluated in HCC and adjacent non‑cancerous tissues using quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and clinicopathological analyses. The effects of BAPN on cell proliferation, migration and invasion were investigated in vitro. Additionally, LOXL2 expression was assessed in the culture supernatants of HCC cell lines. Our results revealed that LOXL2 expression was higher in HCC cell lines and tissues. There was a significant correlation between EMT status and LOXL2 levels (P=0.004). BAPN reduced migration and invasion in HCC cells. HCC patients with high levels of LOXL2 expression had relatively shorter disease‑free survival (P=0.009) and overall survival (P=0.035). The expression level of LOXL2 was similar between cell supernatants and HCC cell lines. A multivariate analysis demonstrated that portal vein invasion (P=0.015), venous invasion (P=0.026), serum AFP (α‑fetoprotein) levels (P=0.019) and LOXL2 expression (P=0.009) were independent prognostic factors. Our results indicated that a higher level of LOXL2 may contribute to tumor progression, indicating that LOXL2 has clinical value as a therapeutic target in HCC.
259 Background: In the past, various prognostic factors in pancreatic ductal carcinoma (PDAC) have been identified, and there found to be not only tumor-specific clinicopathological factors but also individual patient characteristics. In particular, weight loss, muscle wasting and cachexia are hallmarks of PDAC that may be associated with depletion of both skeletal muscle and adipose tissue. Most notably, sarcopenia is defined to be degenerative loss of skeletal muscle mass that is quantifiable using cross sectional imaging computed tomography (CT) by measurement of psoas area and the muscle’s density. Furthermore, visceral adipose tissue loss also has been reported to associate with a poor survival among patients with PDAC. Methods: A total of 265 patients who underwent curative surgery for PDAC were examined in this study. The total skeletal muscle and fat tissue areas were evaluated in a single image obtained at the third lumber vertebra during a preoperative computed tomography (CT) scan. The patients were assigned to either the sarcopenia or non-sarcopenia group based on their skeletal muscle index (SMI) and classified into high visceral fat area (H-VFA) or low VFA (L-VFA) groups. The association of clinicopathological features and prognosis with the body composition were statistically analyzed. Results: There were 170 patients (64.2%) with sarcopenia. The median survival time (MST) was 23.7 months for sarcopenia patients and 25.8 months for patients without sarcopenia. The MST was 24.4 months for H-VFA patients and 25.8 months for L-VFA patients. However, sarcopenia patients with BMI ≥ 22 exhibited significantly poorer survival than patients without sarcopenia (MST: 19.2 vs. 35.4 months, P = 0.025). There was a significant difference between patients with and without sarcopenia who did not receive chemotherapy (5-year survival rate: 0% vs. 68.3%, P = 0.003). The multivariate analysis revealed that tumor size, positive dissected peripancreatic tissue margin, and sarcopenia were independent prognostic factors. Conclusions: Sarcopenia is an independent prognostic factor in PDAC patients with a BMI ≥ 22. Therefore, evaluating skeletal muscle mass may be a simple and useful approach for predicting patient prognosis.
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