Lipocalin 2 may be a key factor regulating the chemosensitivity of pancreatic cancer to gemcitabine

He Zhang; Pengpeng Wu; Chenbo Guo; Caiqin Zhang; Yong Zhao; Dengxu Tan; Jiaze An; Changhong Shi

doi:10.1016/j.bbrep.2022.101291

Lipocalin 2 may be a key factor regulating the chemosensitivity of pancreatic cancer to gemcitabine

Biochem Biophys Rep. 2022 Jun 2:31:101291. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrep.2022.101291. eCollection 2022 Sep.

Authors

He Zhang¹, Pengpeng Wu¹, Chenbo Guo^{1

2}, Caiqin Zhang¹, Yong Zhao¹, Dengxu Tan¹, Jiaze An³, Changhong Shi¹

Affiliations

¹ Division of Cancer Biology, Laboratory Animal Center, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, 710032, China.
² Gansu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Lanzhou, 730030, China.
³ Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreaticosplenic Surgery, Xijing Hospital, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, 710069, China.

Abstract

Owing to the high heterogeneity of pancreatic cancer, patient-derived xenografts (PDX) can compensate for the defects of cell line-derived xenografts (CDX) and also better preserve the heterogeneity and tumor microenvironment of primary tumors. Further, gemcitabine, which is used for the treatment of various cancers, is prone to tumor drug resistance, and this limits its sustained efficacy. Therefore, in this study, our objective was to screen appropriate individual therapeutic drugs for pancreatic cancer. To this end, we established pancreatic cancer PDX models from different patients and screened gemcitabine sensitivity regulatory molecules via high-throughput transcriptome sequencing and bioinformatics analysis. Based on the results obtained, gemcitabine was identified as the most suitable chemotherapeutic drug in a variety of PDX models. Additionally, our results indicated that Lipocalin 2 (LCN 2) may play an important role in the sensitivity of pancreatic cancer to gemcitabine treatment. Thus, the study provides a new potential intervention target for the treatment of pancreatic cancer in clinical practice.

Keywords: Chemosensitivity; Gemcitabine; Lipocalin 2; Pancreatic cancer; patient-derived xenografts.