OBJECTIVETo study the expression levels of ANXA1 and ANXA2 and elucidate their clinicopathological significance in adenocarcinoma, peritumoral tissues, adenomatous polyp and chronic cholecystitis of gallbladder.

METHODSEnVision(TM) immunohistochemical staining was used to detect the expression of ANXA1 and ANXA2 in paraffin-embedded tissue sections from resected specimens of adenocarcinoma (n = 108), peritumoral tissue (n = 46), adenomatous polyp (n = 15) and chronic cholecystitis (n = 35).

RESULTSThe positive rates and scores of ANXA1 and ANXA2 were significantly higher in adenocarcinoma (59.3%, 56.5%; 3.2 ± 0.9, 3.4 ± 0.8) than those in peritumoral tissues (34.8%, 1.1 ± 0.8, P < 0.01; 30.4%, 1.0 ± 0.8, P < 0.01), adenomatous polyp (26.7%, 0.9 ± 0.7, P < 0.05 or P < 0.01; 26.7%, 0.9 ± 0.8, P < 0.05 or P < 0.01) and chronic cholecystitis (17.1%, 0.7 ± 0.9, P < 0.01; 20.0%, 0.8 ± 0.8, P < 0.01). The benign lesions with positive ANXA1 and/or ANXA2 expression showed mild to severe atypical hyperplasia of the gallbladder epithelium. The positive rates of ANXA1 and/or ANXA2 were significantly lower in the well-differentiated adenocarcinoma, in a maximal diameter of < 2 cm, with no metastasis to lymph nodes and no invasion to surrounding tissues than those in the moderately or poorly-differentiated adenocarcinoma, in a maximal diameter of ≥ 2 cm, with metastasis to lymph nodes and invasion in surrounding tissues (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). A high consistence was found between the expression levels of ANXA1 and ANXA2 (χ(2) = 67.84, P < 0.01), and a close positive correlation between the scores of ANXA1 and ANXA2 (r = 0.78, P < 0.01) in gallbladder adenocarcinoma. Kaplan-Meier analysis and multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that ANXA1 or ANXA2 was not an independent prognostic predictor in gallbladder adenocarcinoma.

CONCLUSIONThe expression levels of ANXA1 and/or ANXA2 may be important biological markers in the carcinogenesis, progression and biological behaviors of gallbladder adenocarcinoma.