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The sustained induction of c-MYC drives nab-paclitaxel resistance in primary pancreatic ductal carcinoma cells

  • Erika Parasido
  • , George S. Avetian
  • , Aisha Naeem
  • , Garrett Graham
  • , Michael Pishvaian
  • , Eric Glasgow
  • , Shaila Mudambi
  • , Yichien Lee
  • , Chukwuemeka Ihemelandu
  • , Muhammad Choudhry
  • , Ivana Peran
  • , Partha P. Banerjee
  • , Maria Laura Avantaggiati
  • , Kirsten Bryant
  • , Elisa Baldelli
  • , Mariaelena Pierobon
  • , Lance Liotta
  • , Emanuel Petricoin
  • , Stanley T. Fricke
  • , Aimy Sebastian
  • Joseph Cozzitorto, Gabriela G. Loots, Deepak Kumar, Stephen Byers, Eric Londin, Analisa DiFeo, Goutham Narla, Jordan Winter, Jonathan R. Brody, Olga Rodriguez, Chris Albanese

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

49 Scopus citations

Abstract

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a highly aggressive disease with limited and, very often, ineffective medical and surgical therapeutic options. The treatment of patients with advanced unresectable PDAC is restricted to systemic chemotherapy, a therapeutic intervention to which most eventually develop resistance. Recently, nab-paclitaxel (n-PTX) has been added to the arsenal of first-line therapies, and the combination of gemcitabine and n-PTX has modestly prolonged median overall survival. However, patients almost invariably succumb to the disease, and little is known about the mechanisms underlying n-PTX resistance. Using the conditionally reprogrammed (CR) cell approach, we established and verified continuously growing cell cultures from treatment-naïve patients with PDAC. To study the mechanisms of primary drug resistance, nab-paclitaxel- resistant (n-PTX-R) cells were generated from primary cultures and drug resistance was verified in vivo, both in zebrafish and in athymic nude mouse xenograft models. Molecular analyses identified the sustained induction of c-MYC in the n-PTX-R cells. Depletion of c-MYC restored n-PTX sensitivity, as did treatment with either the MEK inhibitor, trametinib, or a small-molecule activator of protein phosphatase 2a.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1815-1827
Number of pages13
JournalMolecular Cancer Research
Volume17
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - 2019
Externally publishedYes

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