Organotypic culture model of pancreatic cancer demonstrates that stromal cells modulate E-cadherin, beta-catenin, and Ezrin expression in tumor cells.

ABSTRACT: Pancreatic cancer is characterized by an intense stromal reaction. Reproducible three-dimensional in vitro systems for exploring interactions of the stroma with pancreatic cancer cells have not previously been available, prompting us to develop such a model. Cancer cells were grown on collagen/Matrigel and embedded with or without stromal cells (hTERT-immortalized human PS-1 stellate cells or MRC-5 fibroblasts) for 7 days. Proliferation and apoptosis, as well as important cell-cell adhesion and cytoskeleton-regulating proteins, were studied. PS-1 cells were confirmed as stellate based on the expression of key cytoskeletal proteins and lipid vesicles. Capan-1, and to a lesser extent PaCa-3, cells differentiated into luminal structures, exhibiting a central apoptotic core with a proliferatin

SUBMITTER: Froeling FE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2716963 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature