A novel in vitro pancreatic carcinogenesis model

Environmental factors (e.g., BaP) have been pointed out as one of the etiologies of pancreatic cancer. However, very limited experimental assays are available to identify pancreatic specific environmental mutagens or susceptibility genes. In this study, we have developed a simple in vitro cell culture model system that can be used to study the molecular and biochemical aspects of carcinogenesis in a near-normal immortalized pancreatic ductal epithelial cell lines. In order to demonstrate that xenobiotic stress response is intact in these cells, we employed standard molecular biology techniques. For examples, luciferase reporter and/or real-time quantitative PCR assays were used to determine stress-induced CYP1A1 and CYP1B1 gene expression. Western blotting and immunocytochemistry assays were used to demonstrate that TCDD or BaP could activate AhR signaling. For exploring the carcinogenesis mechanism, we incubated cells with [³H]BaP and determined BaP-DNA binding activity by measuring its radioactivity. BaP-DNA adduct formation was further confirmed by [³²P]-postlabeling assay. Finally, we demonstrated the effects of endogenous AhR or BRCA1 in BaP-DNA adduct accumulation in our cell system. As results, no apparent BaP-DNA adduct accumulation by [³²P]-postlabeling assay was found in either control-siRNA or AhR-siRNA pretreated cells. On the other hand, a significant increase of BaP-DNA adduct accumulation was found in BRCA1 knockdown cells. In conclusion, we suggest that this in vitro model may provide the feasibility for future studies on the molecular basis of pancreatic ductal cell carcinogenesis caused by dietary mutagens.