Objective: To investigate the expression of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) in pancreatic cancer tissue and its clinical significance.
Methods: The HO-1 expressions in specimens of pancreatic cancer tissue and tumor adjacent tissue from 80 cases of pancreatic cancer were determined by immunohistochemical staining and Western blot analysis, respectively. The relations of HO-1 with the clinicopathologic features and prognosis of pancreatic cancer patients were determined by statistical analyses.
Results: The results of immunohistochemical staining and Western blot analysis showed that both the positive expression rate and relative expression levels of HO-1 protein in pancreatic cancer tissue were significantly higher than those in tumor adjacent tissue (both P<0.05). The HO-1 expression in pancreatic cancer tissue was significantly associated with TNM stage, degree of tumor differentiation and lymph node metastasis (all P<0.05), but irrelevant to the sex and age (both P>0.05). Log-rank test showed that the median survival time of patients with HO-1 positive expression was significantly lower than that in patients with its negative expression 
(25.1 months vs. 36.7 months, P<0.05).
Conclusion: HO-1 is highly expressed in human pancreatic cancer tissue and is closely related to the malignant clinical characteristics and unfavorable prognosis of pancreatic cancer patients. It may probably become a new target for pancreatic cancer investigation and treatment.