Abstract 3108: Human telomerase reverse transcriptase regulates stemness of pancreatic cancer

Abstract

Abstract Backgrounds: Human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) plays a key role on immortalization of cancer cells. In the present study, we clarified the effect of small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting hTERT in pancreatic cancer cell lines. Methods: Two sequences of siRNA targeting hTERT and negative control siRNA were transfected into PANC-1 and MIA PaCa-2 human pancreatic cancer cell lines. Cell proliferation (WST-8 cell counting assay), stemness (sphere formation) and migration (scratch assay) were analyzed using hTERT-siRNA transfected cells and control-siRNA transfected cells. The expression levels of CDK1, SOX9 and nestin were analyzed by real time PCR. Results: As compared to control-siRNA, hTERT-siRNA suppressed cell proliferation and stemness of pancreatic cancer cell lines. Cell migration did not show any difference between hTERT-siRNA and control-siRNA transfected cells. The expression levels of CDK1, SOX9 and nestin in hTERT-siRNA transfected cells were lower than those in control-siRNA transfected cells. Conclusion: The present study indicates that inhibition of hTERT in pancreatic cancer cells suppressed stemness via alteration of the expression levels of CDK1, SOX9 and nestin. Citation Format: Juanjuan Ye, Keiko Yamakawa, Yuko Narusawa, Yoko Matsuda. Human telomerase reverse transcriptase regulates stemness of pancreatic cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr 3108.