Open AccessInfluence of type‐I Interferon receptor expression level on the response to type‐I Interferons in human pancreatic cancer cells
Author(s) -
Booy Stephanie,
Eijck Casper H. J.,
Dogan Fadime,
Koetsveld Peter M.,
Hofland Leo J.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of cellular and molecular medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.44
H-Index - 130
eISSN - 1582-4934
pISSN - 1582-1838
DOI - 10.1111/jcmm.12200
Subject(s) - pancreatic cancer , receptor , interferon , apoptosis , cell culture , biology , cancer research , medicine , receptor expression , cell , cell growth , cancer cell , cancer , endocrinology , immunology , biochemistry , genetics
Pancreatic cancer is a highly aggressive malignancy with limited treatment options. Type‐I interferons ( e.g . IFN ‐α/‐β) have several anti‐tumour activities. Over the past few years, clinical studies evaluating the effect of adjuvant IFN ‐α therapy in pancreatic cancer yielded equivocal results. Although IFN ‐α and ‐β act via the type‐I IFN receptor, the role of the number of receptors present on tumour cells is still unknown. Therefore, this study associated, for the first time, in a large panel of pancreatic cancer cell lines the effects of IFN ‐α/‐β with the expression of type‐I IFN receptors. The anti‐tumour effects of IFN ‐α or IFN ‐β on cell proliferation and apoptosis were evaluated in 11 human pancreatic cell lines. Type‐I IFN receptor expression was determined on both the m RNA and protein level. After 7 days of incubation, IFN ‐α significantly reduced cell growth in eight cell lines by 5–67%. IFN ‐β inhibited cell growth statistically significant in all cell lines by 43–100%. After 3 days of treatment, IFN ‐β induced significantly more apoptosis than IFN ‐α. The cell lines variably expressed the type‐I IFN receptor. The maximal inhibitory effect of IFN ‐α was positively correlated with the IFNAR ‐1 mRNA ( P < 0.05, r = 0.63), IFNAR ‐2c m RNA ( P < 0.05, r = 0.69) and protein expression ( P < 0.05, r = 0.65). Human pancreatic cancer cell lines variably respond to IFN ‐α and ‐β. The expression level of the type‐I IFN receptor is of predictive value for the direct anti‐tumour effects of IFN ‐α treatment. More importantly, IFN ‐β induces anti‐tumour effects already at much lower concentrations, is less dependent on interferon receptor expression and seems, therefore, more promising than IFN ‐α.