TY - JOUR T1 - Imaging the Role of Multinucleate Pancreatic Cancer Cells and Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts in Peritoneal Metastasis in Mouse Models JF - Anticancer Research JO - Anticancer Res SP - 3435 LP - 3440 VL - 37 IS - 7 AU - KOSUKE HASEGAWA AU - ATSUSHI SUETSUGU AU - MIKI NAKAMURA AU - TAKURO MATSUMOTO AU - HITOMI AOKI AU - TAKAHIRO KUNISADA AU - MASAHITO SHIMIZU AU - SHIGETOYO SAJI AU - HISATAKA MORIWAKI AU - ROBERT M. HOFFMAN Y1 - 2017/07/01 UR - http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/37/7/3435.abstract N2 - Background/Aim: The interaction between pancreatic-cancer cells and stromal cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME) is of particular importance in cancer progression and metastasis. The present report demonstrates the role of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and multinucleate pancreatic-cancer cells in peritoneal metastasis. Materials and Methods: An orthotopic mouse model of pancreatic cancer was established with the human pancreatic cancer cell line BxPC3, which stably expresses green fluorescent protein (GFP). Results: BxPC3-GFP cells formed peritoneal metastases by week 18 after orthotopic implantation. Using an Olympus FV1000 confocal microscope, multi-nucleated cancer cells were frequently observed in the peritoneal metastases. The primary pancreatic tumor and peritoneal-metastases were harvested, cultured and then transplanted subcutaneously. Subcutaneous tumors established from peritoneal-metastatic cells were larger than subcutaneous tumors established from primary-tumor cells. Subcutaneous tumors of each type were subsequently cultured in vitro. CAFs were observed growing out from the tumors established from peritoneal-metastatic cells, but not the tumors established from the primary cancer. Conclusion: The results of the present study suggest that multi-nucleated cancer cells and CAFs were related to peritoneal metastasis of pancreatic cancer. ER -