Background The high mortality rate of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is primarily attributed to metastasis. Laminin subunit alpha 3 (LAMA3) is known to modulate tumor progression. However, the influence of LAMA3 on liver metastasis in PDAC remains unclear. This study aimed to elucidate whether LAMA3 expression is increased in PDAC with liver metastasis. Patients and methods We extracted information related to LAMA3 expression levels and associated clinicopathological parameters from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and four Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets. Clinicopathological analysis was performed; the Kaplan-Meier Plotter was used to evaluate LAMA3’s prognostic effect in PDAC. We retrospectively collected clinicopathological data and tissue specimens from 117 surgically treated patients with PDAC at the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University. We assessed LAMA3 expression and investigated its correlation with the clinicopathological traits, clinical outcomes, and hepatic metastasis. Results Amplified expression of LAMA3 was observed in PDAC tissue compared with normal tissue in the TCGA and GEO databases. High LAMA3 expression was associated with poor overall survival (OS) and relapse-free survival (RFS) in patients with PDAC. LAMA3 expression was significantly enhanced in PDAC tissues than in adjacent tissues. Tumor tissues from patients with PDAC exhibiting liver metastasis showed higher LAMA3 expression than those without liver metastasis. High LAMA3 expression correlated with large tumor size and TNM stage. LAMA3 expression and liver metastasis were independent predictive factors for OS; the former was independently associated with liver metastasis. Conclusions LAMA3 expression is elevated in patients with PDAC with liver metastasis and is a predictor of prognosis.

中文翻译：

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胰腺导管腺癌层粘连蛋白α3亚基表达与肿瘤肝转移及生存的相关性

背景 胰腺导管腺癌（PDAC）的高死亡率主要归因于转移。已知层粘连蛋白 α 3 亚基 (LAMA3) 可调节肿瘤进展。然而，LAMA3对PDAC肝转移的影响仍不清楚。本研究旨在阐明 LAMA3 表达是否在伴有肝转移的 PDAC 中增加。患者和方法我们从癌症基因组图谱 (TCGA) 和四个基因表达综合 (GEO) 数据集中提取了与 LAMA3 表达水平和相关临床病理学参数相关的信息。进行临床病理学分析；Kaplan-Meier 绘图仪用于评估 LAMA3 在 PDAC 中的预后作用。我们回顾性收集了青岛大学附属医院117例手术治疗的PDAC患者的临床病理资料和组织标本。我们评估了 LAMA3 表达并研究了其与临床病理特征、临床结果和肝转移的相关性。结果 TCGA和GEO数据库中与正常组织相比，PDAC组织中观察到LAMA3表达增强。LAMA3 高表达与 PDAC 患者较差的总生存期 (OS) 和无复发生存期 (RFS) 相关。PDAC 组织中的 LAMA3 表达显着高于邻近组织。表现出肝转移的 PDAC 患者的肿瘤组织比没有肝转移的患者的 LAMA3 表达更高。LAMA3 高表达与肿瘤大小和 TNM 分期相关。LAMA3表达和肝转移是OS的独立预测因素；前者与肝转移独立相关。结论 LAMA3 在 PDAC 肝转移患者中表达升高，是预后的预测因子。