Explore the vast range of titles available.

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is highly resistant to chemo and radiotherapy. Radiation-induced fibrosis (RIF) is a major cause of clinical concern for various malignancies, including PC. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the radiosensitizing and anti-RIF potential of fluvastatin in PC. Short-term viability and clonogenic survival assays were used to evaluate the radiosensitizing potential of fluvastatin in multiple human and murine PC cell lines. The expression of different proteins was analyzed to understand the mechanisms of fluvastatin-mediated radiosensitization of PC cells and its anti-RIF effects in both mouse and human pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs). Finally, these effects of fluvastatin and/or radiation were assessed in an immune-competent syngeneic murine model of PC. Fluvastatin radiosensitized multiple PC cell lines, as well as radioresistant cell lines in vitro, by inhibiting radiation-induced DNA damage repair response. Nonmalignant cells, such as PSCs and NIH3T3 cells, were less sensitive to fluvastatin-mediated radiosensitization than PC cells. Interestingly, fluvastatin suppressed radiation and/or TGF-β-induced activation of PSCs, as well as the fibrogenic properties of these cells in vitro. Fluvastatin considerably augmented the antitumor effect of external radiation therapy and also suppressed intra-tumor RIF in vivo. These findings suggested that along with radiation, fluvastatin co-treatment may be a potential therapeutic approach against PC. Fluvastatin, a cholesterol-lowering drug, radiosensitizes pancreatic cancer (PC) cells partly by inhibiting DNA damage response and/or autophagic flux. Fluvastatin also significantly suppresses intra-tumor radiation-induced fibrosis, as it inhibits radiation/TGF-β-induced activation of pancreatic stellate cells. Together, fluvastatin and radiation co-treatment may be a potential therapeutic approach against PC and warrants further clinical evaluation.

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a pleiotropic cytokine that increasingly is being studied in cancers and inflammatory diseases. Though murine models have been instrumental in understanding the functional role of MIF in different pathological conditions, the information obtained from these models is biased towards a specific species. In experimental science, results obtained from multiple clinically relevant animal models always provide convincing data that might recapitulate in humans. Syrian golden hamster ( Mesocricetus auratus ), is a clinically relevant animal model for multiple human diseases. Hence, the major objectives of this study were to characterize the structure and function of  Mesocricetus auratus MIF (MaMIF) and finally evaluate its effect on pancreatic tumor growth in vivo . Initially, the recombinant MaMIF was cloned, expressed and purified in a bacterial expression system. The MaMIF primary sequence, biochemical properties, and crystal structure analysis showed greater similarity with human MIF. The crystal structure of MaMIF illustrates that it forms a homotrimer as known in human and mouse. However, MaMIF exhibits some minor structural variations when compared to human and mouse MIF. The in vitro functional studies show that MaMIF has tautomerase activity and enhances activation and migration of hamster peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Interestingly, injection of MaMIF into HapT1 pancreatic tumor-bearing hamsters significantly enhanced the tumor growth and tumor-associated angiogenesis. Together, the current study shows a structural and functional similarity between the hamster and human MIF. Moreover, it has demonstrated that a high level of circulating MIF originating from non-tumor cells might also promote pancreatic tumor growth in vivo .

Desmoplasia is a fibro-inflammatory process and a well-established feature of pancreatic cancer. A key contributor to pancreatic cancer desmoplasia is the pancreatic stellate cell. Various in vitro and in vivo methods have emerged for the isolation, characterization, and use of pancreatic stellate cells in models of cancer-associated fibrosis. In addition to cell culture models, genetically engineered animal models have been established that spontaneously develop pancreatic cancer with desmoplasia. These animal models are currently being used for the study of pancreatic cancer pathogenesis and for evaluating therapeutics against pancreatic cancer. Here, we review various in vitro and in vivo models that are being used or have the potential to be used to study desmoplasia in pancreatic cancer.

In patients with pancreatic cancer (PC), the peritoneal cavity is the second-most common site of metastasis after the liver. Peritoneal macrophages (PMs) have been demonstrated to play a significant role in the peritoneal metastases of different cancers. Gemcitabine (GEM) is known to affect PC-associated immune cells, including macrophages. However, its effect on PMs and its possible clinical implication is yet to be investigated. In this study, mouse-derived PMs were treated with GEM ex vivo to analyze the polarization status. Production of GEM-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species was evaluated using DCFH-DA, DAF-FM, and Griess assay. Antitumor effects of PMs on UN-KC-6141and UN-KPC-961 murine PC cells were evaluated in presence and absence of GEM in vitro. Similarly, effect of GEM on human THP-1 macrophage polarization and its tumoricidal effect was studied in vitro. Furthermore, the effect of GEM-treated PMs on peritoneal metastasis of UN-KC-6141 cells was evaluated in a syngeneic mouse model of PC. GEM upregulated M1 phenotype-associated molecular markers (Tnf-α and Inos) in vitro in PMs obtained from naïve mouse. Moreover, IL-4-induced M2-like PMs reverted to M1-like after GEM treatment. Co-culture of UN-KC-6141 and UN-KPC-961 cancer cells with PMs in the presence of GEM increased apoptosis of these cells, whereas cell death was markedly reduced after N-acetyl-l-cysteine treatment. Corroborating these findings co-culture of GEM-treated human THP-1 macrophages also induced cell death in MIAPaCa-2 cancer cells. GEM-treated PMs injected intraperitoneally along with UN-KC-6141 cells into mice extended survival period, but did not stop disease progression and mortality. Together, GEM induced M1-like polarization of PMs from naive and/or M2-polarized PMs in a ROS-dependent manner. GEM-induced M1-like PMs prompted cytotoxicity in PC cells and delayed disease progression in vivo.

Recently, the Syrian golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) has been demonstrated as a clinically relevant animal model for SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, lack of knowledge about the tissue-specific expression pattern of various proteins in these animals and the unavailability of reagents like antibodies against this species hampers optimal use of these models. The major objective of our current study was to analyze the tissue-specific expression pattern of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), a proven functional receptor for SARS-CoV-2 in different organs of the hamster. We have adapted immunoblot analysis, immunohistochemistry, and immunofluorescence analysis techniques to evaluate the ACE2 expression pattern in different tissues of the Syrian golden hamster. We found that kidney, small intestine, esophagus, tongue, brain, and liver express ACE2. Epithelium of proximal tubules of kidney and surface epithelium of ileum expresses a very high amount of this protein. Surprisingly, analysis of stained tissue sections for ACE2 showed no detectable expression of ACE2 in the lung or tracheal epithelial cells. Similarly, all parts of the large intestine (caecum, colon, and rectum) were negative for ACE2 expression. Together, our findings corroborate some of the earlier reports related to ACE2 expression pattern in human tissues and also contradicts some others. We believe that the findings of this study will enable the appropriate use of the Syrian golden hamster to carryout SARS-CoV-2 related studies. Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.

Abstract Syrian golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) infected by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) manifests lung pathology that resembles human COVID-19 patients. In this study, efforts were made to check the infectivity of a local SARS-CoV-2 isolate in hamster model and evaluate the differential expression of lung proteins during acute infection and convalescence. The findings of this study confirm the infectivity of this isolate in vivo. Analysis of clinical parameters and tissue samples shows a similar type of pathophysiological manifestation of SARS-CoV-2 infection as reported earlier in COVID-19 patients and hamsters infected with other isolates. The lung-associated pathological changes were very prominent on the 4th day post-infection (dpi), mostly resolved by 14dpi. Here, we carried out quantitative proteomic analysis of the lung tissues from SARS-CoV-2-infected hamsters at day 4 and day 14 post infection. This resulted in the identification of 1,585 differentially expressed proteins of which 68 proteins were significantly altered among both the infected groups. Pathway analysis revealed complement and coagulation cascade, platelet activation, ferroptosis and focal adhesion as the top enriched pathways. In addition, we also identified altered expression of two pulmonary surfactant-associated proteins (Sftpd and Sftpb), known for their protective role in lung function. Together, these findings will aid in the identification of candidate biomarkers and understanding the mechanism(s) involved in SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis. Figure1 Figure1 * Download figure * Open in new tab Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a pleiotropic cytokine that increasingly is being studied in cancers and inflammatory diseases. Though murine models have been instrumental in understanding the functional role of MIF in different pathological conditions, the information obtained from these models is biased towards a specific species. In experimental science, results obtained from multiple clinically relevant animal models always provide convincing data that might recapitulate in humans. Syrian golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus), is a clinically relevant animal model for multiple human diseases. Hence, the major objectives of this study were to characterize structure and function of hamster MIF, and finally evaluate its effect on pancreatic tumor growth in vivo. Initially, the recombinant hamster MIF (rha-MIF) was cloned, expressed and purified in bacterial expression system. The rha-MIF primary sequence, biochemical properties and crystal structure analysis showed a greater similarity with human MIF. The crystal structure of hamster MIF illustrates that it forms a homotrimer as known in human and mouse. However, hamster MIF exhibits some minor structural variations when compared to human and mouse MIF. The in vitro functional studies show that rha-MIF has tautomerase activity and enhances activation and migration of hamster peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Interestingly, injection of rha-MIF into HapT1 pancreatic tumor bearing hamsters significantly enhanced the tumor growth and tumor associated angiogenesis. Together, the current study shows a structural and functional similarity between hamster and human MIF. Moreover, it has demonstrated that a high-level of circulating MIF originating from non-tumor cells might also promote pancreatic tumor growth in vivo.

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a pleiotropic cytokine that increasingly is being studied in cancers and inflammatory diseases. Though murine models have been instrumental in understanding the functional role of MIF in different pathological conditions, the information obtained from these models is biased towards a specific species. In experimental science, results obtained from multiple clinically relevant animal models always provide convincing data that might recapitulate in humans. Syrian golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus), is a clinically relevant animal model for multiple human diseases. Hence, the major objectives of this study were to characterize structure and function of hamster MIF, and finally evaluate its effect on pancreatic tumor growth in vivo. Initially, the recombinant hamster MIF (rha-MIF) was cloned, expressed and purified in bacterial expression system. The rha-MIF primary sequence, biochemical properties and crystal structure analysis showed a greater similarity with human MIF. The crystal structure of hamster MIF illustrates that it forms a homotrimer as known in human and mouse. However, hamster MIF exhibits some minor structural variations when compared to human and mouse MIF. The in vitro functional studies show that rha-MIF has tautomerase activity and enhances activation and migration of hamster peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Interestingly, injection of rha-MIF into HapT1 pancreatic tumor bearing hamsters significantly enhanced the tumor growth and tumor associated angiogenesis. Together, the current study shows a structural and functional similarity between hamster and human MIF. Moreover, it has demonstrated that a high-level of circulating MIF originating from non-tumor cells might also promote pancreatic tumor growth in vivo.