MicroRNA Expression in a Readily Accessible Common Hepatic Artery Lymph Node Predicts Time to Pancreatic Cancer Recurrence Postresection

Abstract

Lymph node involvement in pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAC) predicts postresection survival, but early lymph node metastasis detection is not easily accomplished. We assessed a panel of microRNAs (miRNAs) in a common hepatic artery lymph node (station 8) that is readily accessible during pancreatoduodenectomy (PD) to determine if increased miRNA levels correlate with postresection recurrence. Station 8 lymph nodes overlying the common hepatic artery collected during PD were assayed for miRNA-10b, miRNA-30c, miRNA-21, and miRNA-155 and cytokeratin-19 (CK19), an epithelial cell marker, using quantitative PCR. Expression was correlated with disease recurrence, recurrence-free survival (RFS), and overall survival (OS). Station 8 lymph nodes from 37 patients (30 periampullary carcinomas (PCs), 2 chronic pancreatitis, 5 other cancers) exhibited increased miRNA-10b levels in 14/30 PCs, and in 10 of these 14 patients, cancer recurred during the study period (2012–2015). High miRNA-10b was also associated with shorter RFS (42.5 vs. 92.4 weeks, p < 0.05) but not OS, whereas miRNA-30c, miRNA-21, and miRNA-155 levels and CK19 mRNA levels in station 8 nodes were variable and did not correlate with RFS or OS. We conclude that elevated miRNA-10b levels in station 8 lymph nodes could be utilized to assess risk for early disease progression in patients with periampullary tumors.