The effect of neuroendocrine differentiation on the survival of patients diagnosed with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

Purpose of the study. Determine the frequency of MiNeN among pancreatic carcinomas and analyze the survival rate of patients depending on the percentage of cells with neuroendocrine differentiation in the tumor.

Materials and methods. The current study included 31 patients with a pancreatic tumor who received surgical treatment at the Rostov Cancer Research Institute. An immunohistochemical study was conducted on biomarkers of chromogranin A, synaptophysin, and ki-67 for these patients. Based on the data obtained, 4 groups for neuroendocrine differentiation were identified.

Results. The direct effect of neuroendocrine differentiation on the survival of patients with histologically confirmed pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma has been proven. Among the sample of 31 patients, neuroendocrine differentiation was revealed in 24 cases (77%), of which 3 cases of MiNeN (10.3%) were detected. It is also proven relationship between neuroendocrine and patient survival, where an increase percent of positive cells in tumors (chromogranin A or synaptophysin) means a better prognosis. Chromogranin A is a more significant predictor of survival compared to synaptophysin. The largest difference in survival was between negative expression of chromogranin A and the presence of more than 1% positive cells in the tumor.

Conclusion. We supposed that it is necessary to use neuroendocrine markers (chromogranin A and synaptophysin) in the diagnosis of ductal adenocarcinomas, even without histological signs of neuroendocrine differentiation. This will allow for a larger amount of data to determine their significance as prognostic markers.

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