This study looked at survival and MLH1 expression in patients with pancreatic cancer who had undergone resection and received adjuvant chemoradiation. Two different adjuvant protocols were compared. Samples from 117 patients from the two arms were stained. Overall, 84% of these patients had died by the time of this analysis (median of 17 months’ survival). The researchers found a significant correlation between longer disease-free and overall survival and elevated MLH1 expression in tumor cells, in both arms combined and in each arm individually. The 2-year overall survival was 16% in patients who had low MLH1 expression levels and 53% in those who had high MLH1 expression levels.
