胰导管腺癌(PDAC)是全球癌症死亡的主要原因之一。此种癌症的一个显著特点是肿瘤体积的很大部分由具有不同细胞和因子的间质组成。其中，我们可以突出细胞因子，它们通过与其受体结合来发挥功能。鉴于CXCR4受体在肿瘤细胞与其微环境之间相互作用中的影响以及其参与癌症中重要的信号通路，将其作为一种非常有前途的预后生物标志物和新的靶向治疗目标被提出。许多研究分析了CXCR4的表达，但我们建议重点关注CXCR4在间质中的表达。通过免疫组织化学技术评估了33名PDAC患者标本中CXCR4的表达，并与临床病理参数、总生存率和无病生存率进行了匹配。非肿瘤组织的间质百分比(32.4±5.2)较肿瘤胰腺组织(67.4±4.8)低，P值=0.001。非肿瘤组织的间质细胞中CXCR4的表达水平较低(8.7±4.6)，肿瘤胰腺组织中较高(23.5±6.1)，P值=0.022。非肿瘤组织和胰腺肿瘤组织之间的总细胞计数和炎性细胞未发现显著差异。CXCR4的表达与任何临床或病理数据、总生存率和无病生存率均没有关联。仅分析肿瘤样本的间质时，发现CXCR4表达与肿瘤分化程度有关，P值=0.05。在本研究中，我们反映了PDAC患者间质中CXCR4表达的重要性。我们的结果显示，肿瘤间质中CXCR4的表达水平高，与肿瘤分化程度差相关。相反，我们未能发现CXCR4表达与生存率和其他临床病理变量之间的关联。将研究重点放在肿瘤间质中的CXCR4表达上可能会产生更可靠的结果。因此，我们认为开展更多研究来阐明此受体在PDAC中的作用及其作为可能生物标志物的意义非常关键。©2023. BioMed Central Ltd., Springer Nature的一部分。

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the main causes of cancer mortality in the world. A characteristic feature of this cancer is that a large part of the tumor volume is composed of a stroma with different cells and factors. Among these, we can highlight the cytokines, which perform their function through binding to their receptors. Given the impact of the CXCR4 receptor in the interactions between tumor cells and their microenvironment and its involvement in important signaling pathways in cancer, it is proposed as a very promising prognostic biomarker and as a goal for new targeted therapies. Numerous studies analyze the expression of CXCR4 but we suggest focusing on the expression of CXCR4 in the stroma.Expression of CXCR4 in specimens from 33 patients with PDAC was evaluated by immunohistochemistry techniques and matched with clinicopathological parameters, overall and disease-free survival rates.The percentage of stroma was lower in non-tumor tissue (32.4 ± 5.2) than in tumor pancreatic tissue (67.4 ± 4.8), P-value = 0.001. The level of CXCR4 expression in stromal cells was diminished in non-tumor tissue (8.7 ± 4.6) and higher in tumor pancreatic tissue (23.5 ± 6.1), P-value = 0.022. No significant differences were identified in total cell count and inflammatory cells between non-tumor tissue and pancreatic tumor tissue. No association was observed between CXCR4 expression and any of the clinical or pathological data, overall and disease-free survival rates. Analyzing exclusively the stroma of tumor samples, the CXCR4 expression was associated with tumor differentiation, P-value = 0.05.In this study, we reflect the importance of CXCR4 expression in the stroma of patients diagnosed with PDAC. Our results revealed a high CXCR4 expression in the tumor stroma, which is related to a poor tumor differentiation. On the contrary, we could not find an association between CXCR4 expression and survival and the rest of the clinicopathological variables. Focusing the study on the CXCR4 expression in the tumor stroma could generate more robust results. Therefore, we consider it key to develop more studies to enlighten the role of this receptor in PDAC and its implication as a possible biomarker.© 2023. BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.