Pancreatic cancer is a high-malignant disease with a 5-year-survival rate below 5 %. To improve non-surgical treatment options there is the need to develop in-vivo models for evaluation of potential targets at the genetic level.
This study demonstrates the usefullness of RCAS-mediated retroviral gene transfer in vitro as well as in a murine model of pancreatic cancer. This retroviral gene delivery allows effective gene overexpression and also specific silencing of gene function by RNA interference. Furthermore, we validate bioluminescence-imaging as a reliable method for noninvasive monitoring of tumor progression in vivo. Finally, longitudinal studies for analysis of gene function in this mouse model of pancreatic cancer signalize that restoring expression of the tumor suppressor p53 and knockdown of the epidermal growth factor receptor EGF-R impairs progression of orthotopic pancreatic tumor grafts in vivo.
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