pathologica 2014;106:315-321 Review PDX-1 (Pancreatic/Duodenal Homeobox-1 Protein 1)

the homeodomain-containing transcription factor pancreatic duodenal homeobox 1 (PdX-1) plays a key role in pancreatic development and β-cell function. it is a major regulator of tran-scription in pancreatic cells, and transactivates the insulin gene by binding to a specific dna motif in its promoter region. glucose also regulates insulin gene transcription through PdX-1. it has been shown that PdX-1 is required for maintaining pancre-atic islet functions by activating gene expression and has a dual role in pancreatic development. it initially contributes to pancre-atic formation during embryogenesis and subsequently regulates the pancreatic islet cell physiology in mature islet cells. Because of this key role in the embryologic development of the pancreas, PdX-1 expression has been investigated in pancreatic cancer cell lines and human tumors. Moreover, a few reports have described expression of PdX-1 in other human neoplasms and have investigated its potential role in differen-tial diagnosis, but data on normal human tissues are lacking. Under-standing the molecular mechanisms of pancreas formation, and especially the function of PdX-1, may contribute to the improved treatment and prevention of debilitating diseases such as diabetes, insulinomas and pancreatic carcinomas. nevertheless, further stud-ies are needed concerning its possible application in routine practice