Loss of TRAIL-receptors is a recurrent feature in pancreatic cancer and determines the prognosis of patients with no nodal metastasis after surgery.

Agonistic antibodies targeting TRAIL-receptors 1 and 2 (TRAIL-R1
and TRAIL-R2) are being developed as a novel therapeutic approach
in cancer therapy including pancreatic cancer. However, the
cellular distribution of these receptors in primary pancreatic
cancer samples has not been sufficiently investigated and no study
has yet addressed the issue of their prognostic significance in
this tumor entity. Applying tissue microarray (TMA) analysis, we
performed an immunohistochemical assessment of TRAIL-receptors in
surgical samples from 84 consecutive patients affected by
pancreatic adenocarcinoma and in 26 additional selected specimens
from patients with no lymph nodes metastasis at the time of
surgery. The prognostic significance of membrane staining and
staining intensity for TRAIL-receptors was evaluated. The fraction
of pancreatic cancer samples with positive membrane staining for
TRAIL-R1 and TRAIL-R2 was lower than that of cells from surrounding
non-tumor tissues (TRAIL-R1: p