The small heat shock protein ?A-crystallin negatively regulates pancreatic tumorigenesis.

ABSTRACT: Our recent study has shown that ?A-crystallin appears to act as a tumor suppressor in pancreas. Here, we analyzed expression patterns of ?A-crystallin in the pancreatic tumor tissue and the neighbor normal tissue from 74 pancreatic cancer patients and also pancreatic cancer cell lines. Immunocytochemistry revealed that ?A-crystallin was highly expressed in the normal tissue from 56 patients, but barely detectable in the pancreatic tumor tissue. Moreover, a low level of ?A-crystallin predicts poor prognosis for patients with pancreatic duct adenocarcinoma (PDAC). In the 12 pancreatic cell lines analyzed, except for Capan-1 and Miapaca-2 where the level of ?A-crystallin was about 80% and 65% of that in the control cell line, HPNE, the remaining pancreatic cancer cells have much lower ?A-crystallin levels. Overexpression of ?A-crystallin in MiaPaca-1 cells lacking endogenous ?A-crystallin significantly decreased its tumorigenicity ability as shown in the colony formation and wound healing assays. In contrast, knockdown of ?A-crystallin in the Capan-1 cells significantly increased its tumorigenicity ability as demonstrated in the above assays. Together, our results further demonstrate that ?A-crystallin negatively regulates pancreatic tumorigenesis and appears to be a prognosis biomarker for PDAC.

SUBMITTER: Liu J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5323194 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature