Assessment of C arcino embryonic Antigen-Related Cell Adhesion Molecules (CEACAM6) in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma, A Combined Serum and Immunohistochemical Study

Background: Pancreatic cancer is a disease with an extremely poor prognosis. Carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecule 6 (CEACAM6) is emerging as an important determinant of the malignant phenotype in a range of cancers, including pancreatic cancer. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the potential involvement of CEACAM6 in the development, invasion and metastasis of pancreatic cancer cells. Patients and Methods: This prospective study included 7 cases of chronic pancreatitis and 25 cases of pancreatic duct adenocarcinoma, which were collected from General Surgery Department, Faculty of Medicine, Benha University and Egyptian National Cancer Institute (NCI), in the period 2010- 2014. Carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecule 6 (CEACAM6) immunohistochemical staining and soluble CEACAM6 were estimated in all cases and the pattern of expression in tissue was analyzed. Results: Eighty eight percent of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cases were positive for CEACAM6, while only 14.3% of chronic pancreatitis were positive, which was statistically significant (p 0.01). Patients with PDAC showed significantly elevated CEACAM6 serum expression compared to chronic pancreatitis (p 0.01). Tissue expression of CEACAM6 was also significantly correlated to presence of lymph node metastases (p 0.01). A significant correlation was found between grade of pancreatic carcinoma, nodal involvement and serum CEACAM6 level (p 0.05). Neither tumor grade nor depth of invasion were correlated to immunohistochemical CEACAM6 expression (p 0.05). Conclusion: CEACAM6 expression appears to be an early event in pancreatic carcinogenesis, and its expression may aid in the diagnosis and in detection of disease progression in patients undergoing resection for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Serum levels of CEACAM6 could be valuable in follow-up of patients after surgery.