Gene expression profiling of pancreatic epithelial cells in response to tissue contextual changes

To understand the molecular process associated with tissue morphogenesis of pancreatic epithelial cells, we profiled the transcriptomes of normal or malignant pancreatic organoids formed in three-dimenstional reconsitututed basement membrance (rBM). Cell monolayers cultured on rBM-coated culture plastics were used as controls. HPDE (immortalized pancreatic epithelial cells) and PANC-1 cells (pancreatic cancer cells) were seeded on reconstituted basement membrane (rBM)-coated culture plastics or cultured on top of three-dimensional (3D) rBM gels. Total RNA samples were collected from cell monolayers or 3D cell clusters (formed at day 2), pancreatic tubules or tumor spheroids (formed at day 6) in the rBM culture, followed by global gene expression profiling.