Gene profiling of the antitumor effects of Cxcl13-positive pancreatic stellate cells in an allogeneic subcutaneous transplantation model.

Pancreatic stellate cells are a kind of fibroblasts present in the pancreas and are the cells of origin of cancer-associated fibroblasts. In our previous study, we demonstrated the presence of Cxcl13-positive pancreatic stellate cells as a subpopulation of pancreatic stellate cells. In their genetic profiling, they were predicted to have anti-tumor effects, but their behavior in pancreatic cancer tissue in vivo is unknown. Whole transcriptome analysis was performed to identify genes altered in tumors in which Cxcl13-positive pancreatic stellate cells were allogeneically subcutaneously transplanted with a pancreatic cancer cell line. In addition to the Cxcl13-positive pancreatic stellate cells, tumors transplanted with myofibroblastic pancreatic stellate cells were also subjected to whole transcriptome analysis. Novel pancreatic fibroblast (nPaf) cells or myofibroblastic pancreatic fibroblast (myPaf) and pancreatic cancer cell lines (generated from KPCY mice) were mixed in Matrigel and injected into the right flank of 10-week-old C57BL6 female mice (n=3, respectively). Four weeks after, they were sacrificed by cervical dislocation and subcutaneous tumors were removed. The samples were subjected to whole transcriptome analysis or qRT-PCR.