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Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), due to its genomic heterogeneity and lack of development of effective therapies, will become the second leading cause of cancer-related death within 10 years. Therefore, identifying novel targets that can predict response to specific treatments is a key goal to personalize pancreatic cancer therapy and improve survival. Given that the occurrence of oncogenic KRAS mutations is a characteristic event in PDAC leading to genome instability, a better understanding of the role of DNA repair mechanisms in this process is desirable. The aim of our study was to investigate the role of the error-prone DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) repair pathway, alt-EJ in the presence of KRAS G12D mutation in pancreatic cancer formation. Our findings showed that oncogenic KRAS contributes to the activation of the alt-EJ mechanism by increasing the expression of Polθ, Lig3 and Mre11, key components of alt-EJ in both mouse and human PDAC models. In addition, we demonstrated that alt-EJ has increased activity in DNA DSBs repair pathway in a mouse and human model of PDAC bearing KRAS G12D mutation. We further focused on estimating the impact of alt-EJ inactivation by polymerase theta (Polθ) deletion on pancreatic cancer development and survival in genetically engineered mouse models (GEMMs). Here, we described that although deficiency of Polθ resulted in delayed cancer progression and prolonged survival of experimental mice, it can lead to full-blown PDAC. Our study showed that disabling one component of the alt-EJ may be insufficient to fully suppress pancreatic cancer progression and a complete understanding of all alt-EJ factors and their involvement in DSB repair and oncogenesis is required.
Serine protease inhibitor Kazal type 1 (SPINK1) plays an important role in preventing pancreatitis by inhibiting activated trypsin in the pancreas. The N34S variant of SPINK1 was found to be associated with chronic pancreatitis. However, this mutation is also expressed in the healthy population, indicating that the mutation alone does not cause the disease.
In this study, we investigated at single molecular level the effect of pH on the binding characteristics of human cationic trypsin to SPINK1 by single-molecule force spectroscopy (SMFS).
We found that at pH 8.0, trypsin shows twice the binding force to wild type SPINK1 (90.9 pN ± 3.9 pN) compared to the N34S mutant (47.3 pN ± 3.9 pN). An acidic pH of 4.8 results in a lower binding forces for trypsin-wild type SPINK1 (41.9 pN ± 4.0 pN) to a similar level as the binding force of trypsin-N34S mutant (54.6 pN ± 4.6 pN) complexes. These results are complemented by dynamic force spectroscopy findings which show a higher stability of the wild type SPINK1-trypsin complexes at pH 8.0 in comparison to N34S mutant-trypsin complexes. In addition, the binding profiles for both wild type and N34S mutant SPINK1 to trypsin equalize at pH 4.8.
Our results indicate that the presence of the mutation in the healthy population would most probably not affect the interaction with trypsin at acidic pH such as physiological conditions in pancreatic acinar cells. However, an increase in pH, leads to a difference of binding strength between SPINK1 or N34S mutant towards human cationic trypsin. These findings may be relevant for understanding the role of SPINK1 and its mutation N34S in the pathogenesis of pancreatitis.
Acute pancreatitis (AP) is one of the most common and widely increasing gastrointestinal
diseases leading to hospitalization without specifically available therapy. Among various
etiologies, biliary origin is the most common cause. However, the effects of BAs, given
systemically, on AP remains elusive. A detailed characterization of the mechanisms through
which BAs contribute to the pathogenesis and severity of AP will greatly improve our
understanding of the underlying pathophysiology and may facilitate the development of
treatment, early identification of complications, and prevention for AP. In this view, the roles of
different circulating BAs using in vitro-to-in vivo models were investigated and the underlying
mechanisms through which BAs modulate the severity of AP were addressed. The impact of
hydrophobic and hydrophilic BAs on both, isolated acinar cells and different animal models
induced by repetitive injections of caerulein or L-arginine, ligation of the pancreatic duct (PDL)
or combined bile and pancreatic duct ligation (BPDL), were tested. Disease severity was
assessed by biochemical and histological parameters. Serum CCK concentrations were
determined by enzyme immunoassay. The binding of CCK1 receptor was measured using
fluorescent-labeled CCK. Human BA profiles in AP patients were quantified and that were
correlated with etiology as well as clinical course. In acinar cells, hydrophobic BAs mitigated
the damaging effects of CCK. The same BAs further enhanced pancreatitis in L-arginine and
PDL-based pancreatitis whereas they ameliorated pancreatic damage in the caerulein and
BPDL models, in which CCK was involved. The chemical effect of BAs on protease trypsin
was also observed, however, it was similar between hydrophobic and hydrophilic compounds.
Mechanistically, the binding affinity of the CCK1 receptor was significantly reduced by
hydrophobic BAs. In patients, the sum of hydrophobic but not hydrophilic BAs correlated with
the etiology and severity of AP.
Post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) pancreatitis (PEP) was
reported to be related with CCK and several pharmaceutical agents have been used to prevent
this most common and potentially severe complication, but those are of limited benefit. In this
regard, our multicenter multinational randomized control trial was designed to compare the
efficacy of indomethacin and N-acetylcysteine (NAC) for the prevention of PEP. A total of 432
ERCP patients from 6 countries were recruited and randomly assigned to receive either NAC
(group A, 84 cases), indomethacin (group B, 138 cases), NAC + indomethacin (group C, 115
cases) or placebo (group D, 95 cases) two hours before procedure. The rate of PEP in groups
A, B and C in comparison with placebo were 10.7%, 17.4%, 7.8% vs 20% (p = 0.08, 0.614 &
0.01, respectively).
Among complications of AP, infection of pancreatic necrosis is one of the most severe
consequence that mostly necessitates interventional therapy. A model to identify parameters
that are useful for the prediction of infected necrosis at an early stage was developed. A
retrospective analysis was conducted in 705 AP patients, who underwent contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT scan). Both laboratory and clinical parameters were analyzed for
an association with infected pancreatic necrosis, which was microbiologically confirmed. A
logistic regression analysis with stepwise inclusion of significant variables was used to develop
a prediction model. We tested the model quality by receiver operating characteristics analysis.
We found a significant association between 11 parameters with an infection including albumin,
creatinine, C-reactive protein (CRP), and alcoholic etiology, which were independent variables
in the final predictive model with an area under the curve of 0.819.
In the same cohort in which we developed the prediction model above, 89 AP cases with
necrotic complications diagnosed by CT scan were identified. These complications with high
morbidity and mortality required endoscopic drainage, which possibly accompanies severe
adverse events. All complications which occurred in patients who underwent those procedures
and their associated features were retrospectively analyzed. Positive necrosis cultures and a
larger diameter of the intervened necroses were significant factors associated with the
occurrence of adverse events, in which the former was the most significant predictor with Odds
Ratio of 6.1.
The entire work demonstrated that hydrophobicity of BAs and the involvement of CCK are
relevant for the clinical course of AP. Systemic BAs may affect the severity of AP by interfering
with the binding of the CCK1 receptor. Oral NAC is effective for prevention of PEP and the
combination of NAC plus indomethacin resulted in the lowest PEP rate. A model using albumin,
creatinine, CRP, and alcoholic etiology can differentiate infected and sterile pancreatic
necrosis and control of infection is crucial for successful endoscopic drainage therapy in
complicated AP. The exact pathophysiologic mechanisms, especially in CCK-related pathways,
and the potential impact of BAs in human AP, in particular in preventing PEP, need to be investigated in further studies.