Human Equilibrative Nucleoside Transporter 1 Expression in Endoscopic Ultrasonography-Guided Fine-Needle Aspiration Biopsy Samples Is a Strong Predictor of Clinical Response and Survival in the Patients With Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Undergoing Gemcitabine-Based Chemoradiotherapy

OBJECTIVES This study aimed to clarify whether pretreatment human equilibrative nucleoside transporter (hENT1) expressions in endoscopic ultrasonography-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy (EUS-FNAB) specimens obtained from resectable, borderline resectable, and locally advanced unresectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) are concordant with those in the resected specimen after gemcitabine-based chemoradiotherapy (Gem-CRT) and to validate the utility of hENT1 expression using EUS-FNAB samples as a prognostic marker. METHODS We evaluated the relationship between hENT1 expressions assessed by immunohistochemical staining and clinical outcomes in 51 of 76 patients with PDAC who were diagnosed by EUS-FNAB and received preoperative Gem-CRT. RESULTS The concordance rate of hENT1 expressions was 89.2% (K = 0.681). Median survival time (month) in the 51 whole patients and 37 patients with resection was significantly longer in hENT1 positive than in hENT1 negative: 25.0 and 30.0 versus 9.0 and 9.0, respectively. A multivariate analysis confirmed that hENT1 expression was an independent prognostic factor in both whole patients and those with resection. Regardless of T3 and T4, hENT1-positive patients with resection had significantly better prognosis than hENT1-negative patients, whose prognosis was similar to those without resection. CONCLUSIONS The assessment of hENT1 expression using EUS-FNAB samples before Gem-CRT provides important information on patients with PDAC who can benefit from curative-intent resection.