Differential effects of Am80 and calcipotriol administration on gene expression in CAFs

We investigated how Am80 differed from vitamin D analogues in terms of effects on gene expression in PDAC CAFs. we stimulated primary cultured PSCs isolated from three patients with PDAC (PSC163, PSC52, and PSC119) with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO, control), Am80, or calcipotriol. Gene expression profiles were then compared using microarray-based transcriptomic analysis. Extracting genes that were differentially expressed between Am80- and calcipotriol-treated cells revealed that Meflin expression was more significantly upregulated by Am80 than calcipotriol. Interestingly, the expression levels of fibroblast activation protein (FAP) and chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 2 (CCL2), which are markers of pCAFs, were higher in Am80-treated PSCs than calcipotriol-treated PSCs, whereas the expression levels of other pCAF marker genes, such as C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 12 (CXCL12), podoplanin (PDPN) and periostin (POSTN), were higher in calcipotriol-treated cells. These data suggested that Am80 and calcipotriol differentially regulated gene expression in PSCs. Primary cultured human PSCs isolated from three patients with PDAC (163, 52, and 119) were administered with DMSO (1 µM), calcipotriol (Cal, 1 µM), and Am80 (1 µM) for 48 h. Total RNA was then extracted, and gene expression microarray analysis was performed.