Conclusion: We established a new human pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell line, MDAPanc-28. Studies on this new line indicate that it expressed both acinar and ductal gene products suggesting that the patterns of gene expression in the pancreatic adenocarcinoma from which this cell line arose have features similar to those of the protodifferentiated cells hypothesized by Rutter and his colleagues for the developing pancreas (1,2).
Background: The cell line arose from a tumor that, like most pancreatic adenocarcinomas, was ductal on the basis of its histological appearance.
Methods: Once the cell line was established in culture, they were subjected to cytogenetic analysis and tested for their ability to grow in nude mice. RNA from the cells was analyzed by Northern blot analysis and PCR of reverse transcribed cDNA for the expression of both acinar and duct cell gene products. DNA was analyzed for the presence of mutated K-ras at codon 12.
Results: The cell line expressed trypsin and ribonuclease RNA, which are considered to be acinar cell markers, and carbonic anhydrase II (CAII), which is considered to be a duct-cell markers. The histological appearance of xenografts in nude mice was similar to that of the tumor from which the cell line was established. The chromosome number varied between 46 and 60.