BACKGROUND/AIMS: This study was tried to determine the role of β-catenin in invasion in pancreatic cancer. METHODS: We analyzed cancer invasiveness according to β-catenin expression in pancreatic cancer cell line. We also investigated the change in cancer invasiveness when β-catenin expression was changed. To enhance β-catenin activity, we treated low β-catenin cancer cell line, PANC1, with Wnt-3a conditioned media and transected β-catenin. We also treated high β-catenin expressing cell line, BxPC3, with XAV939, β-catenin inhibitor and siRNA for β-catenin to inhibit β-catenin expression. RESULTS: The high β-catenin expressing cancer cell line, BxPC3 showed higher invasiveness, and low β-catenin expressing cell lines, PANC1and MIA-PaCa-2, were less invasive. By adding the Wnt-3a conditioned media or performing transfection with β-catenin in PANC1, cell invasiveness was increased (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01, respectively). On inhibition of β-catenin by XAV939 and siRNA in BxPC3 cell line, invasiveness was significantly decreased (p < 0.01). It was not correlated with the expression of cluster of differentiation 44 (CD44) or CD44 variant 6 (CD44v6), the invasion related protein. On analysis of association with metastasis in human tissue, Wnt-3a expression was statistically correlated with the development of metastasis (p = 0.029). CONCLUSIONS Based on our data, β-catenin may be involved in cancer invasion in pancreatic cancer, and it is not associated with CD44, the invasion related protein.

Purpose: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with major portal vein tumor thrombosis (mPVTT) complications were generally characterized by extremely poor prognoses. The aim of this study was to explore the role of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) PET/CT imaging in predicting HCC complicated by mPVTT. Methods: Five hundred one HCC patients received surgery in our hospital during November 2008 to December 2014, among which 32 patients (6.4%) were diagnosed as HCC complicated by mPVTT. Six cases were excluded for reasons of complex medical conditions, including 2 cases of salvage liver transplantation, 2 cases of re-resection, 1 case of mPVTT combined with inferior vina cava tumor thrombosis, and 1 case of residual portal vein tumor thrombosis. Ultimately, 26 cases were enrolled in this study. The maximal tumor standardized uptake value (SUVmax) was identified as a predictive factor and detected. The univariate and multivariate regression analyses were performed to identify the prognostic factors for recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) of HCC patients complicated by mPVTT. Results: Our results showed that the median OS was 16 months. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year cumulative OS was 55.6%, 31.7%, and 31.7%, respectively. The multivariate regression analysis revealed that SUVmax ≥ 4.65 was the only independent risk factor for RFS and OS. Conclusion SUVmax was an independent predictor for RFS and OS of patients suffering from both HCC and mPVTT. L ow SUVmax could serve as an effective factor for selecting candidates with low recurrence risks and for helping with improving patient survival after surgical resection.