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A novel prognostic marker and immunogenic membrane antigen: prohibitin (PHB) in pancreatic cancer. BACKGROUND: Previous study, using immunoblotting with IgG and membrane proteins, identified prohibitin (PHB) as a potential immunogenic membrane antigen. Now, investigate PHB expression and biological functions in pancreatic cancer. METHODS: PHB expression was analysed in PDAC cell lines, normal pancreas tissues, cancer tissues, PDAC patient sera and healthy volunteer sera using QRT-PCR, Western blotting, IHC, and ELISA, and a survival analysis and a COX regression analysis were performed. Low and high PHB expression levels were accomplished using RNA interference technology and gene transfer techniques. Cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, apoptosis-related proteins were assessed 48 h after transfection. RESULTS: PHB was generally expressed in the 8 tested PDAC cell lines. PHB was significantly increased in PDAC tissues and negatively correlated with overall survival (p < 0.01). PHB was an independent prognostic factor in PDAC (p < 0.01). PHB was increased in PDAC patient sera (p < 0.01). siRNA-PHB decreased cell growth, migration and invasion. However, PHB overexpression resulted in the opposite effects. Western blotting and Flow cytometric analysis revealed apoptosis inhibition in siRNA-PHB PDAC cells. CONCLUSIONS: PHB plays a key role in modulating the malignant phenotype and apoptosis induction, which may be a novel prognostic predictor and a candidate for targeted therapy against PDAC.