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Updated: Jul 15, 2026

Isolating and Analyzing Cells of the Pancreas Mesenchyme by Flow Cytometry
Published on: January 28, 2017
Enhanced fibroblast growth factor 5 expression in stromal and exocrine elements of the pancreas in chronic
T Ishiwata1, M Kornmann, H G Beger
1Department of Medicine, University of California, Irvine 92697, USA.
Background:
Fibroblast growth factor 5 (FGF-5) belongs to a group of mitogenic and angiogenic heparin binding growth factors but its potential role in chronic inflammatory conditions is not known.
Aims:
To compare FGF-5 expression in the normal pancreas and in the pancreas of patients with chronic pancreatitis (CP) and to characterise FGF-5 expression and secretion in TAKA-1 cells, an immortalised Syrian hamster pancreatic duct cell line.
Methods And Results:
Northern blotting revealed the presence of a 4.0 kb FGF-5 mRNA transcript in both normal and CP tissue samples. Densitometric analysis indicated that the transcript levels were increased by a factor of 1.44 in CP tissue samples compared with normal tissue samples (p = 0.039). By immunohistochemisty and in situ hybridisation, FGF-5 was faintly expressed in ductal and islet cells in the normal pancreas. In contrast, in CP tissue samples, there was abundant expression of FGF-5 in ductal, acinar, and islet cells, as well as in periductal fibroblasts. FGF-5 was also expressed in TAKA-1 cells as determined by Northern blotting. By immunoblotting of heparinsepharose precipitates, TAKA-1 cells were shown to secrete FGF-5 into the medium.
Conclusion:
Exocrine and stromal derived FGF-5 has the potential to participate in autocrine and paracrine pathways that may contribute to the pathobiology of chronic pancreatitis.
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Assessment:
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