Upregulated Expression of Actin-Like 6A is a Risk Factor Affecting the Prognosis of Pancreatic Cancer

PURPOSE: Actin-like 6A (ACTL6A), a regulatory subunit of the ATP-dependent chromatin-remodeling complex SWI/SNF, acts as an oncogenic factor. This study is aimed at evaluating the correlation between ACTL6A expression and clinicopathological parameters in pancreatic cancer (PC) patients. METHODS: The differences of Actl6a mRNA expression between PC tissues and normal pancreatic tissues were analyzed in public databases, and ACTL6A expression was then determined and confirmed in 60 paired tissue specimens using immunohistochemistry staining. The association analysis between ACTL6A expression and the clinicopathological characteristics was analyzed, as well as Kaplan–Meier survival analysis. Univariate and multivariate Cox analyses were performed to identify the prognostic factors in the overall survival (OS) of patients with PC. RESULTS: The mRNA expression of Actl6a showed significantly higher in PC compared to normal controls (p < 0.05) from public databases. The score of immunohistochemistry staining further confirmed that ACTL6A expression was significantly upregulated in PC tissues (p < 0.001) through immunohistochemistry staining. High ACTL6A expression was associated with lymphovascular space invasion of PC. Kaplan–Meier analysis revealed that the high expression of ACTL6A was markedly associated with poor OS. Moreover, univariate and multivariate analysis demonstrated that ACTL6A acted as an independent risk factor for PC prognosis. CONCLUSION: ACTL6A is upregulated in PC and acts as a risk factor for poor prognosis in patients with PC, and therefore clinicians could around it design preventive measures and individualized treatment to improve mortality in patients with PC.