Glyoxalase I (GLO1) is up-regulated in pancreatic cancerous tissues compared with related non-cancerous tissues.

Glyoxalase I (GLO1), an enzyme involved in the detoxification of methylglyoxal in the glycolysis pathway, has been found to be frequently overexpressed in various types of cancer. Recent studies showed that GLO1 is related to proliferation and apoptosis in human cancer cells. However, expression of GLO1 in pancreatic cancer (PC) has not been precisely defined. Since PC is one of the most malignant types of cancer, we investigated the levels of GLO1 in tissues from patients with PC. We examined the expression of GLO1 in tumors from patients with PC and adjacent normal tissues by western blotting. Western blotting demonstrated that GLO1 was significantly overexpressed in pancreatic cancerous tissues compared with adjacent non-cancerous tissues (n=20, p<0.05). GLO1 could be a clinically useful target in the therapy of PC.