title: Morphological and biochemical characterization of a human pancreatic ductal cell line (PANC-1).
abstract: Study of the products secreted by pancreatic ductal cells and analysis of the mechanisms involved in the discharge of these products have been limited by a lack of in vitro models available to experimentally approach this problem. To this aim, this investigation has been designed to determine if a human pancreatic carcinoma cell line of ductal origin (PANC-1) has maintained some of the differentiated characteristics of normal mammalian pancreatic ductal epithelium. Morphological and immunocytochemical studies indicated that, similar to isolated rat pancreatic ducts, the PANC-1 cell line contained (a) intermediate filaments of the epithelial class, (b) a basolateral plasma membrane localization of Na+, K+-ATPase, (c) complete tight junctions based on freeze-fracture analysis, (d) a cuboidal morphology when grown on Type I collagen-coated nitrocellulose filters or isolated amnion basement membrane, and (e) normal ductal epithelial ultrastructural features. Biochemical analysis indicated that, also similar to isolated rat and human pancreatic ducts, the PANC-1 cell line contained (a) gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase, (b) carbonic anhydrase, and (c) Na+, K+-ATPase based on [3H]ouabain binding assays. Comparative studies with other transformed lines indicated that PANC-1 cells have similarities to ductal lines such as MDCK cells but are markedly different from mesenchymally derived lines such as L cells. In addition, as with isolated rat and human ducts, PANC-1 cells synthesize and secrete sulfated proteins with a MW range of approximately 180K to 1 million daltons, with the predominant species being 660K daltons as indicated by gel filtration and sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. These results indicate that the PANC-1 cell line has maintained at least some of the differentiated characteristics of normal pancreatic ductal epithelial cells and may be a useful system for study of ductal secretory products as well as the mechanisms involved in the discharge of these products.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001345:Autoradiography; D002256:Carbonic Anhydrases / Q000032:analysis; D002460:Cell Line; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009077:Mucins / Q000032:analysis; D010183:Pancreatic Ducts / Q000032:analysis / Q000166:cytology*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013464:Sulfuric Acids / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D009077:Mucins; D013464:Sulfuric Acids; D002256:Carbonic Anhydrases