3-q23 [13, 28]. These findings are consistent with the fact that loss of selleck screening library 6q, 8p, 9p, 12q, 17p, and 18q is frequently observed in pancreatic cancer[34, 35]. Finally, we measured the plasma metastin level in 23 of our patients with pancreatic cancer. We previously found that the plasma metastin level of patients with pancreatic cancer is significantly higher than that of age- and gender-matched healthy volunteers (unpublished data), so we considered that there was potential to use plasma metastin as a novel tumor marker. In the NU7026 present series, there was no significant difference of survival between the
patients with high and low plasma metastin levels, but no patient with a high plasma metastin level died after surgery. JQ-EZ-05 Since the number of patients and the follow-up period are insufficient, more data and further investigation will be needed to
clarify the value of measuring plasma metastin. In this study, the plasma metastin level and metastin immunoreactivity in resected tumor tissues showed a weak correlation. It would be clinically useful if plasma metastin levels had prognostic significance because metastin expression in resected tumor tissues was shown to be a prognostic factor in this study. Conclusion In conclusion, expression of metastin and GPR54 was associated with better survival of patients with pancreatic cancer. Metastin expression by cancer tissue was an independent prognostic factor for better survival. Furthermore, the serum metastin level could become a non-invasive prognostic tool for patients with pancreatic cancer. Acknowledgements This study was supported by a Grant-in-Aid (#20390355) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. References 1. Jemal A, Thomas A, Murray T, Thun M: Cancer statistics, 2002. CA Cancer J Clin 2002, 52: 23–47.CrossRefPubMed 2. Jemal A, Siegel R, Ward E, Hao Y, Xu J, Murray T, Thun MJ: Cancer statistics, 2008. CA Cancer J Clin 2008, 58: 71–96.CrossRefPubMed 3. Sener
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