PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - HASEGAWA, KOSUKE
AU  - SUETSUGU, ATSUSHI
AU  - NAKAMURA, MIKI
AU  - MATSUMOTO, TAKURO
AU  - AOKI, HITOMI
AU  - KUNISADA, TAKAHIRO
AU  - SHIMIZU, MASAHITO
AU  - SAJI, SHIGETOYO
AU  - MORIWAKI, HISATAKA
AU  - HOFFMAN, ROBERT M.
TI  - Imaging the Role of Multinucleate Pancreatic Cancer Cells and Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts in Peritoneal Metastasis in Mouse Models
DP  - 2017 Jul 01
TA  - Anticancer Research
PG  - 3435--3440
VI  - 37
IP  - 7
4099  - http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/37/7/3435.short
4100  - http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/37/7/3435.full
SO  - Anticancer Res2017 Jul 01; 37
AB  - 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.