Authenticated Pancreatic Cancer Cell Lines

Read more about

• Types of Pancreatic Cancer
• Risk Factors
• Mutations
• Small Molecules/Monoclonal Antibodies
• Applications
• ECACC Pancreatic Cancer Cell Lines
• References

In developed countries, pancreatic cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality due to cancer. A 2012 GLOBOCAN estimate attributed 331,000 deaths annually to pancreatic cancer. Subclinical symptoms in the early stages of disease often leads to delayed diagnosis and a poor prognosis, with an estimated 5-year survival rate of less than 5%. If outcomes are not improved, pancreatic cancer is projected to become the second leading cause of cancer-related death in next decade.

Types of pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer may originate from either the exocrine or endocrine compartment of the pancreas. The table below delineates differences between exocrine and endocrine tumors, and will aid in the selection of the appropriate cell line for your research.

Exocrine tumors	Endocrine tumors
Most common type of pancreatic cancer Subcategorized into ductal adenocarcinoma and acinar adenocarcinoma, which begin in ducts and acini respectively.  Other cancer types, which are less frequent, include acinar cell carcinoma, adenosquamous carcinoma, giant cell tumor, and pancreatoblastoma.	Account for just 1% of pancreatic cancers Commonly referred to as pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNETs) Categorized into subtypes based on the hormonal products of cells of origin: insulinoma, glucagonoma, gastrinoma, somatostatinoma, ppomas (pancreatic polypeptide), and vipomas (vasoactive intestinal peptide)
Cell lines: PANC-1, PSN1, AR42J, HaP-T1, HUP-T3, HUP-T4, TGP49, DSL6A/C1, AsPC-1, CFPAC-1	Cell lines: CRI-G5, CRI-D11, CRI-D2, TGP52, TGP54, TGP55, RIN-M, RIN-5F

Risk factors

Age is the major risk factor for pancreatic cancer; patients above 50 years of age are at higher risk. Lifestyle factors include smoking, obesity, low physical activity.  Diabetes mellitus can be both a risk factor and a consequence of early-stage pancreatic cancer.

Mutations

Approximately 10% of pancreatic cancer patients have a family history of cancer; individuals with mutations in KRAS, TP53, GNAS, SMAD4, CDKN2A, RNF43, ARID1A, and KMT2C may be at higher risk.

Choose cell lines from the table below based on mutation, and click genes to find relevant products (antibodies, shRNA, siRNA, primers, CRISPR plasmids) for your research study.

Table 1. Pancreatic cancer cell lines with specific somatic mutations

Mutated gene	Cell line
KRAS	PANC-1, HuP-T3, MIA PaCa-2, AsPC-1, BxPC-3, CFPAC-1, HuP-T4,  PSN-1
TP53	PANC-1, HuP-T3, MIA PaCa-2, AsPC-1, BxPC-3, CFPAC-1, HuP-T4,  PSN-1
GNAS	AsPC-1
SMAD4	AsPC-1
CDKN2A	AsPC-1
RNF43	AsPC-1, BxPC-3
ARID1A	MIA PaCa-2
KMT2C	MIA PaCa-2

Small molecules/monoclonal antibodies

Small molecule compounds and antibodies can be used to target cancer cells and block tumor growth and progression.  There are small molecule compounds that can target pancreatic cancer based on type of cancer. Drugs used to target pancreatic cancer include:

• Erlotinib
• Capecitabine
• Fluorouracil
• Gemcitabine
• Leucovorin
• Oxaliplatin
• Irinotecan
• Nab-paclitaxel

Applications

Cancer cell lines are indispensable for cancer research, as they provide an accessible, cost-effective model for cellular behavior and response. Based on the characteristics of the cell origins and the experimental need, cell lines may be used in one or more applications. Some examples of application-specific cell line use are included below.

Application	Cell line used
In vitro screening	CFPAC-1, BxPC-3, AsPC-1, PANC-1 and MIA PaCa-2 cell lines were used to screen the anticancer properties of drug conjugates to treat pancreatic cancer1
Xenograft models for cancer	PANC-1 cell line was used to generate a xenograft model to evaluate the efficacy of microRNA-delivering nanovectors2
Evaluation of novel targets	BxPC-3, MIA PaCa-2 cell line models were used to evaluate mTORC2/RICTOR as a novel target for treatment of human PDAC3
Drug response	AsPC-1 pancreatic cancer cell line was employed to investigate the anticancer activity of chemical compounds like manzamine A4
Novel therapeutic strategy	Pancreatic cancer cell lines like HuP-T1, HuP-T3 and PANC-1 were used to suggest anti-sense therapy for the K-ras point mutation frequently observed in pancreatic cancers5
Toxicity studies	Effects of lipotoxicity studied in insulin-secreting human pancreatic β-cell line, 1.1B46
miRNA  regulation studies	Role of miR-21 in the pathogenesis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma studied in MIA PaCa-2 cell line7
Cell migration studies	Hup-T4 cell lines were used to investigate the role of the ARP2/3 complex in pancreatic cancer cell migration8

References

1. Hashim YM, Spitzer D, Vangveravong S, Hornick MC, Garg G, Hornick JR, Goedegebuure P, Mach RH, Hawkins WG. 2014. Targeted pancreatic cancer therapy with the small molecule drug conjugate SW IV-134. 8(5):956-967. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molonc.2014.03.005

2. Hu Q, Jiang Q, Jin X, Shen J, Wang K, Li Y, Xu F, Tang G, Li Z. 2013. Cationic microRNA-delivering nanovectors with bifunctional peptides for efficient treatment of PANC-1 xenograft model. Biomaterials. 34(9):2265-2276. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biomaterials.2012.12.016

3. Schmidt KM, Hellerbrand C, Ruemmele P, Michalski CW, Kong B, Kroemer A, Hackl C, Schlitt HJ, Geissler EK, Lang SA. 2017. Inhibition of mTORC2 component RICTOR impairs tumor growth in pancreatic cancer models. Oncotarget. 8(15):24491-24505. https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.15524

4. Guzmán EA, Johnson JD, Linley PA, Gunasekera SE, Wright AE. 2011. A novel activity from an old compound: Manzamine A reduces the metastatic potential of AsPC-1 pancreatic cancer cells and sensitizes them to TRAIL-induced apoptosis. Invest New Drugs. 29(5):777-785. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10637-010-9422-6

5. Kita, K, Saito, S, Morioka, CY, Watanabe, A. (1999) . Growth inhibition of human pancreatic cancer cell lines by anti-sense oligonucleotides specific to mutated K-ras genes. . Int. J. Cancer . 80, 553–558..

6. Vasu S, McClenaghan NH, McCluskey JT, Flatt PR. 2013. Effects of lipotoxicity on a novel insulin-secreting human pancreatic ?-cell line, 1.1B4. 394(7):909-918. https://doi.org/10.1515/hsz-2013-0115

7. Bhatti I, Lee A, James V, Hall RI, Lund JN, Tufarelli C, Lobo DN, Larvin M. 2011. Knockdown of microRNA-21 Inhibits Proliferation and Increases Cell Death by Targeting Programmed Cell Death 4 (PDCD4) in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma. J Gastrointest Surg. 15(1):199-208. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11605-010-1381-x

8. Rauhala Hea. 2013 . Silencing of the ARP2/3 complex disturbs pancreatic cancer cell migration International Institute of Anticancer Research . 33 45-52 .