Genomic analysis of invasion-metastasis-related factors in pancreatic cancer cells.

Pancreatic cancer is known to be an extremely lethal neoplasm, one of the reasons being that pancreatic cancer itself has an extremely high potential of invasion-metastasis. In our previous study, two pancreatic cancer cell lines with a different potential for invasion-metastasis, PC-1 with a low potential and PC-1.0 with a high potential of invasion-metastasis after intrapancreatic transplantation, were established in a Syrian golden hamster. To determine the invasion-metastasis-related factors, a cDNA microarray that represented a set of 27,000 genes was hybridized with a labeled cDNA probe and screened for molecular profiling analysis. Furthermore, Gene Ontology and Pathway differential expression of candidate genes was further validated using RT-PCR. One hundred and forty-one differentially expressed genes (>3.0-fold change) were identified in the present study, including 46 up-regulated genes (e.g., nup107, tjp-2 and MMP-13) and 95 down-regulated genes (e.g., Spc21, plau and CD44) in the PC-1.0 cells. Our present results suggest that a highly organized and structured process of tumor invasion-metastasis exists in the pancreas. Analysis of gene expression profiles by cDNA microarray provides useful information for clarifying the mechanism underlying this invasion and metastasis. Furthermore, the identification of invasion-metastasis-specific genes may allow us to develop new therapeutic and diagnostic targets for the invasion-metastasis of pancreatic cancer.