Gene expression profiles in response to proanthocyanidins in pancreatic cancer cells

Proanthocyanidins (PAs) that are naturally occurring compounds have shown the potential chemopreventive efficacy against various forms of cancers in different tumor models. To elucidate the responsible molecular mechanisms involved in antitumor therapeutic effects of PAs, the transcriptome changes of pancreatic cancer cells exposure to PAs at 3, 12 and 24h were investigated in this study. Through two biological replicate sequencing, 966, 3543 and 4944 differentially expressed genes in response to PAs exposure were detected at 3, 12 and 24h, respectively. GO and KEGG analysis showed that cell cycle checkpoints and DNA repair modulations or inhibition were the mainly mechanisms in PAs anti-cancer. Overall, this study provided novel insights into not only the first integrated overview on global gene expression in pancreatic cancer cells post PAs exposure, but also the underlying mechanisms of anti-cancer effects of PAs for chemotherapy.