Single-cell transcriptomics reveals a conserved metaplasia program in pancreatic injury

Acinar to ductal metaplasia (ADM) occurs in the pancreas in response to tissue injury and is a potential precursor for adenocarcinoma. We perfomed scRNAseq on lineage-traced cells resulting from acinar cells upon pancreas injury. Acinar cells were lineage-traced with enhanced yellow fluorescent protein (EYFP) to follow their fate upon injury. Mice were sacrificed after either 2 or 4 weeks of caerulein treatment and pancreata were collected. Two mice for each time point. Transcripts of over 13,000 EYFP+ cells were profiled. Single-cell trajectories were generated. Data were compared to gastric metaplasia and human pancreatitis.