Background : CD47 is a transmembrane protein which is widely overexpressed on tumor cells. As an anti-cancer treatment, anti-CD47 antibody has shown promising results in solid and hematologic malignancies. However, expression of CD47 and its clinicopathologic significance in gallbladder cancer (GBC) has not been reported. Here, we investigated the clinicopathologic significance of CD47 expression in GBC.

Methods : CD47 expression was evaluated by immunohistochemical study in tissue microarray sections containing 92 GBC tissues. CD47 expression was considered positive if median H-score (≥ 150).

Results : CD47 expression was observed in 16 (17.4%) of 92 GBC tissues and was not associated with clinicopathologic features. However, in patients with advanced stage (AJCC stage III, IV), positive CD47 expression was associated with vascular invasion (p = 0.016, chi-square test) and perineural invasion (p = 0.033, chi-square test). In survival analyses, significant difference was not observed in both total patient group and advanced stage group.

Conclusions : We investigated CD47 expression in 92 GBC patients. Positive CD47 expression was observed in 17.4% of total GBC tissues and was significantly associated with adverse clinicopathological features of vascular invasion and perineural invasion in advanced stage group.