?III-tubulin: a novel mediator of chemoresistance and metastases in pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths in Western societies. This poor prognosis is due to chemotherapeutic drug resistance and metastatic spread. Evidence suggests that microtubule proteins namely, ?-tubulins are dysregulated in tumor cells and are involved in regulating chemosensitivity. However, the role of ?-tubulins in pancreatic cancer are unknown. We measured the expression of different ?-tubulin isotypes in pancreatic adenocarcinoma tissue and pancreatic cancer cells. Next, we used RNAi to silence ?III-tubulin expression in pancreatic cancer cells, and measured cell growth in the absence and presence of chemotherapeutic drugs. Finally, we assessed the role of ?III-tubulin in regulating tumor growth and metastases using an orthotopic pancreatic cancer mouse model. We found that ?III-tubulin is highly expressed in pancreatic adenocarcinoma tissue and pancreatic cancer cells. Further, we demonstrated that silencing ?III-tubulin expression reduced pancreatic cancer cell growth and tumorigenic potential in the absence and presence of chemotherapeutic drugs. Finally, we demonstrated that suppression of ?III-tubulin reduced tumor growth and metastases in vivo. Our novel data demonstrate that ?III-tubulin is a key player in promoting pancreatic cancer growth and survival, and silencing its expression may be a potential therapeutic strategy to increase the long-term survival of pancreatic cancer patients.     «

Pancreatic cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths in Western societies. This poor prognosis is due to chemotherapeutic drug resistance and metastatic spread. Evidence suggests that microtubule proteins namely, ?-tubulins are dysregulated in tumor cells and are involved in regulating chemosensitivity. However, the role of ?-tubulins in pancreatic cancer are unknown. We measured the expression of different ?-tubulin isotypes in pancreatic adenocarcinoma tissue and pancreatic cancer cel...     »