KIAA1199/CEMIP/HYBID overexpression predicts poor prognosis in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

KIAA1199 (also known as CEMIP or HYBID), a newly identified protein involved in hyaluronan degradation, has been suggested to play a critical role in cancer progression. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression and functional significance of KIAA1199 in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Using quantitative real-time RT-PCR, we analyzed KIAA1199 mRNA expression in 6 PDAC cell lines and frozen tissues from 14 patients with PDAC. We also used immunohistochemistry to analyze KIAA1199 protein expression in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues from 98 patients with PDAC. The KIAA1199 expression pattern was then correlated with clinicopathological variables and patient outcome. The effect of KIAA1199 on migratory ability of PDAC cells was determined by KIAA1199 knockdown with small-interfering RNA (siRNA). The KIAA1199 mRNA expression was significantly higher in PDAC tissues than in the corresponding non-tumor tissues (P < 0.0001). Immunohistochemical analysis revealed high expression of KIAA1199 in 26 (26.5%) of 98 PDAC tissues. The overall survival was significantly shorter in patients with high KIAA1199 expression than in patients with low KIAA1199 expression (P = 0.0001). In multivariate analysis, high KIAA1199 expression (P = 0.003) and UICC stage (P = 0.003) were independent factors predicting poor prognosis. Furthermore, the KIAA1199 mRNA expression was higher in most PDAC cell lines and siRNA knockdown of KIAA1199 resulted in decreased migration. These findings suggest that overexpression of KIAA1199 may contribute to increased migration of PDAC cells and predict shorter survival after surgical resection.