βIII-tubulin: a novel mediator of chemoresistance and metastases in pancreatic cancer

Oncotarget. 2015 Feb 10;6(4):2235-49. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.2946.

Abstract

Pancreatic cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths in Western societies. This poor prognosis is due to chemotherapeutic drug resistance and metastatic spread. Evidence suggests that microtubule proteins namely, β-tubulins are dysregulated in tumor cells and are involved in regulating chemosensitivity. However, the role of β-tubulins in pancreatic cancer are unknown. We measured the expression of different β-tubulin isotypes in pancreatic adenocarcinoma tissue and pancreatic cancer cells. Next, we used RNAi to silence βIII-tubulin expression in pancreatic cancer cells, and measured cell growth in the absence and presence of chemotherapeutic drugs. Finally, we assessed the role of βIII-tubulin in regulating tumor growth and metastases using an orthotopic pancreatic cancer mouse model. We found that βIII-tubulin is highly expressed in pancreatic adenocarcinoma tissue and pancreatic cancer cells. Further, we demonstrated that silencing βIII-tubulin expression reduced pancreatic cancer cell growth and tumorigenic potential in the absence and presence of chemotherapeutic drugs. Finally, we demonstrated that suppression of βIII-tubulin reduced tumor growth and metastases in vivo. Our novel data demonstrate that βIII-tubulin is a key player in promoting pancreatic cancer growth and survival, and silencing its expression may be a potential therapeutic strategy to increase the long-term survival of pancreatic cancer patients.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Anoikis / genetics
  • Apoptosis / genetics
  • Blotting, Western
  • Cell Cycle / genetics
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cell Proliferation / genetics
  • Drug Resistance, Neoplasm / genetics*
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic
  • Humans
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Mice, Inbred BALB C
  • Mice, Nude
  • Neoplasm Metastasis
  • Pancreatic Neoplasms / genetics*
  • Pancreatic Neoplasms / metabolism
  • Pancreatic Neoplasms / pathology
  • RNA Interference*
  • RNAi Therapeutics
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Tubulin / genetics*
  • Tubulin / metabolism
  • Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays

Substances

  • TUBB3 protein, human
  • Tubulin