Mast cells in tumor microenvironment promotes the in vivo growth of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the leading causes of cancer death. No effective therapy is currently available for PDAC because of the lack of understanding of the mechanisms leading to its growth and development. Inflammatory cells, particularly mast cells, have been shown to play key roles in some cancers. We carried out this study to test the hypothesis that mast cells in the tumor microenvironment are essential for PDAC tumorigenesis.

Experimental design

The presence of inflammatory cells at various stages of PDAC development was determined in a spontaneous mouse model of PDAC (K-ras(G12V)). The importance of mast cells was determined using orthotopically implanted PDAC cells in mast cell-deficient Kit(w-sh/w-sh) mice and further confirmed by r

SUBMITTER: Chang DZ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4089502 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature