Tissue Distribution and Activity of Thioredoxin Reductase in Pancreatic Carcinoma

Thioredoxin, NADPH, and thioredoxin reductase form the thioredoxinsystem which exists in all living cells. Oxidants have a major role in cancer pathogenesis;therefore, it is necessary to study the role of redox-active compounds such as thioredoxinreductase to increase our knowledge about the molecular mechanisms involved in cancerpathogenesis and ultimately design more effective treatments. The research on the roleof the thioredoxin system in pancreatic cancer is limited; hence, we intend to comparethe tissue distribution and activity of thioredoxin reductase in pancreatic cancer withhealthy tissues located at the tumor margins. A total of 29 patients with pancreatic cancer participated in this study.The tissue distribution was determined by immunohistochemistry analysis. We useda commercial ELISA kit to determine enzyme activity. There was no significant difference between the tumor tissue and itsnormal surrounding tissue in terms of thioredoxin reductase activity (P=0.56). However,there was a significant difference when we considered the different disease stages. Asignificant relationship also existed between the staining intensity of thioredoxinreductase and disease stage (P=0.022). There was no observed difference between the pancreatic cancertissue and its healthy margin in terms of thioredoxin reductase activity and tissuedistribution. This finding did not support its possible role in pancreatic cancerpathogenesis.