Preposterous Proteoglycan! Defining the Role of CSPG4 in Pancreatic Cell Invasion and Spheroid Formation to Achieve Effective Immunotherapy Treatments

Overview

Pancreatic cancer’s extremely high mortality rate can be attributed to its high invasive and metastatic potential and resistance to traditional therapies. Chondroitin Sulfate Proteoglycan 4 (CSPG4), a transmembrane proteoglycan expressed on the surface of cancer cells, is associated with cancer cell proliferation, invasion, and survival. T o determine if CSPG4 is expressed in pancreatic cancer cells and its specific function, four CSPG4 positive cell lines were screened from seven pancreatic cancer cell lines using western blot analyses. Two CSPG4 positive cell lines, PANC-1 and SW 1990, were chosen along with a negative CSPG4 cell line MIA PaCa-2, as the subjects for CSPG4 biological function study. In the spheroid formation assay, CSPG4 positive PANC-1 and SW 1990 were observed to form intact and compact spheroids, whereas CSPG4 negative MIA PaCa-2 exhibited a looser and incomplete spheroid. Next, CSPG4 specific siRNA was used to knockdown CSPG4 expression in PANC-1 and SW 1990 cells. CSPG4-knockdown cells exhibited lower capability of solid spheroid formation. Cells that underwent no treatment and control siRNA transfection exhibited normal spheroid formation. Furthermore, cell invasion assays using Matrigel coated invasion chambers were performed with PANC-1 cells transfected with CSPG4 siRNA and control siRNA. Statistics show the average invaded cells per 5 fields for CSPG4 siRNA treated cells is 52% less than that of control siRNA treated cells. These preliminary results indicate that CSPG4 is expressed in pancreatic cancer cells and its expression potentially promotes malignant progression in the cancer. OHIO

Competition history

• JSHS 2023 Category not listed

Resources

• National JSHS abstract book ↗

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