Expression of truncated bile salt-dependent lipase variant in pancreatic pre-neoplastic lesions

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a dismal disease. The lack of specific symptoms still leads to a delay in diagnosis followed by death within months for most patients. Exon 11 of the bile salt-dependent lipase (BSDL) gene encoding variable number of tandem repeated (VNTR) sequences has been involved in pancreatic pathologies. We hypothesized that BSDL VNTR sequences may be mutated in PDAC. The amplification of BSDL VNTR from RNA extracted from pancreatic SOJ-6 cells allowed us to identify a BSDL amplicon in which a cytosine residue is inserted in a VNTR sequence. This insertion gives rise to a premature stop codon, resulting in a truncated protein and to a modification of the C-terminal amino-acid sequence; that is PRAAHG instead of PAVIRF. We produced antibodies directed against these sequences and examined pancreatic tissues from patients with PDAC and PanIN. Albeit all tissues were positive to anti-PAVIRF antibodies, 72.2% of patient tissues gave positive reaction with anti-PRAAHG antibodies, particularly in dysplastic areas of the tumor. Neoplastic cells with ductal differentiation were not reactive to anti-PRAAHG antibodies. Some 70% of PanIN tissues were also reactive to anti-PRAAHG antibodies, suggesting that the C insertion occurs early during pancreatic carcinogenesis. Data suggest that anti-PRAAHG antibodies were uniquely reactive with a short isoform of BSDL specifically expressed in pre-neoplastic lesions of the pancreas. The detection of truncated BSDL reactive to antibodies against the PRAAHG C-terminal sequence in pancreatic juice or in pancreatic biopsies may be a new tool in the early diagnosis of PDAC.