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Open Access 01-12-2021 | Pancreatic Cancer | Research

ROR1 and ROR2 expression in pancreatic cancer

Authors: Dongli Liu, George Sharbeen, Phoebe Phillips, Caroline E. Ford, Australian Pancreatic Cancer Genome Initiative

Published in: BMC Cancer | Issue 1/2021

Abstract

Background

The Wnt receptors ROR1 and ROR2 are generating increased interest as cancer therapeutic targets but remain understudied in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Compared to canonical Wnt/ β-catenin signalling, the role of noncanonical Wnt signalling in PDAC remains largely unknown. Only one study has investigated the prognostic significance of the noncanonical Wnt signalling receptor, ROR2 in PDAC. No studies have investigated the prognostic role of ROR1 in PDAC.

Methods

Here, we performed analysis of ROR1 and ROR2 mRNA expression in three publicly available datasets ICGC-PACA-AU (n = 81), TCGA-PAAD (n = 150) and CPTAC-PDAC (n = 137). ROR1 and ROR2 protein expression from the CPTAC-PDAC discovery cohort were also analysed. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) using the validated anti ROR1 monoclonal antibody (4A5) was performed on the Australian Pancreatic Cancer Genome Initiative (APGI) cohort of PDAC samples (n = 152). Association between ROR1 cytoplasmic staining intensity and clinicopathological parameters including stage, grade and overall survival (OS) was investigated.

Results

High ROR1 mRNA expression levels correlated with a favourable OS outcome in all of the ICGC-PACA-AU, TCGA-PAAD and CPTAC-PDAC cohorts. ROR1 protein expression was not associated with stage, grade or OS in the APGI cohort.

Conclusion

ROR1 and ROR2 have potential as prognostic markers when measured at the mRNA level in PDAC. Our IHC cohort did not support ROR1 protein expression in predicting OS, and highlighted the discrepancy of prognostic biomarkers when measured by MS, IHC and RNAseq.

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Title: ROR1 and ROR2 expression in pancreatic cancer
Authors: Dongli Liu
George Sharbeen
Phoebe Phillips
Caroline E. Ford
Australian Pancreatic Cancer Genome Initiative
Publication date: 01-12-2021
Publisher: BioMed Central
Keywords: Pancreatic Cancer
Pancreatic Cancer
Published in: BMC Cancer / Issue 1/2021
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2407
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-021-08952-9

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