Abstract:Objective: To investigate the expression of embryonic developmental signal pathway protein SHH in pancreatic cancer tissue and its clinical significance. Methods: The SHH expression in 45 specimens of pancreatic cancer tissue and 30 specimens of pancreatic tissue with benign disease were detected by immunohistochemical staining, and the relations of SHH expression with the clinicopathologic factors and prognosis of the pancreatic cancer patients were analyzed. Results: The positive SHH expression rate in pancreatic cancer tissue was significantly higher than that in pancreatic tissue with benign disease (66.67% vs. 0.00%, P<0.05). The positive SHH expression was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis, degree of tumor differentiation and TNM stage of the patients (all P<0.05). There was no significant difference in 3-year survival rate and median survival time between pancreatic cancer patients with positive and negative SHH expression (26.67% vs. 20.00%; 18.4 months vs. 15.6 months, both P>0.05). Conclusion: The positive SHH expression rate is increased in pancreatic cancer tissue, and its positive expression may be associated with the disease progression of the patients, but whether it has a relationship with long-term prognosis is uncertain.