Chloroquine plays a cell-dependent role in the response to treatment of pancreatic adenocarcinoma
In this study, our aim is to assess the role played by autophagy and its inhibition in the different PDAC cellular compartments, and its involvement in chemo-resistance using primary human pancreatic cancer-derived cells (PCC) and Cancer Associated Fibroblasts (CAF). Autophagy flux, as measured by LC3-I and -II in the presence of Chloroquine, showed a variable level in PCC and CAFs. We found no correlation between autophagy level and degree of tumor differentiation. Association of Chloroquine with gemcitabine, 5FU, oxaliplatin, irinotecan and docetaxel revealed that its effect on survival is cell- and drug-dependent in vitro and in vivo. In addition, we demonstrated that autophagy in CAFs c…
pap, reg I? andreg I? mRNAs are concomitantly up-regulated during human colorectal carcinogenesis
We have established the phenotype of a colorectal tumor by partial sequencing of 2166 transcripts that were eventually arrayed on high-density filters. These filters were used for differential screening with mRNAs of colorectal cancer and normal adjacent mucosa to characterize genes whose expression is altered in colorectal carcinoma. Three genes encoding related proteins, PAP, reg Iα and reg Iβ, were over-expressed in cancer. Northern-blot analysis confirmed that their expression was very low in normal colonic epithelial cells, but elevated in 75% of tumors. Western blotting with specific antibodies to pap and reg Iα revealed in tumors a single band of the expected size (15–16 kDa), demons…