Cadherin 23 is a prognostic marker of pancreatic cancer and promotes cell viability in floating culture conditions.

Purpose: Pancreatic cancer has the worst prognosis of all common cancers worldwide. Cadherin plays important roles in cancer cell invasion and metastasis. This study investigated the role and mechanism of Cadherin 23 (CDH23) action in the viability of pancreatic cancer cells. Methods: We examined CDH23 expression in 70 surgical pancreatic cancer samples and examined relationships among the level of CDH23 expression, clinicopathological characteristics, and the prognosis of the pancreatic cancer patients. Furthermore, we silenced CDH23 expression in pancreatic cancer cell lines (Panc-1, SUIT-2, MIA PaCa-2, CFPAC-1, and Capan-2) and assessed the viability of these cells. CDH23 expression in pancreatic cancer patients and cell lines was examined using immunohistochemistry and western blotting. Results: High levels of CDH23 in pancreatic cancer patients led to shorter overall survival and correlated with local recurrence and distance metastasis. The viability of pancreatic cancer cells in floating culture conditions decreased sharply when CDH23 was silenced. The viability and migration of pancreatic cancer cells in monolayer culture conditions did not change when CDH23 was silenced. The level of phosphorylated AKT was significantly decreased in the CDH23 knockdown cells in floating culture conditions. Conclusion: High levels of CDH23 expression are correlated with a poor prognosis in pancreatic cancer and may serve as a novel prognostic marker.