Abstract 3593: GABA counteracts ethanol induced stimulation of pancreatic cancer cells and normal pancreatic duct epithelia .

Abstract

Abstract Pancreatic cancer has a high mortality rate and alcoholism is a risk factor independent of smoking. We have shown that nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) regulate pancreatic ductal epithelia and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cells in an autocrine fashion by stimulating their production of the stress neurotransmitters noradrenaline and adrenaline that signal through beta-adrenergic receptors (β-ARs). Our current study has investigated the modulation of this autocrine regulatory loop by chronic ethanol and explored the potential prevention of these effects by γ-amino butyric acid (GABA). Treatment for seven days with ethanol at a concentration equivalent to the legal blood alcohol limit in the United States induced protein expression and sensitivity of nAChRs α3, α5 and α7 resulting in increased production of noradrenaline and adrenaline which drive proliferation and migration via cAMP-dependent signaling downstream of β-ARs. Treatment with GABA prevented all of these responses to chronic ethanol, reducing cell proliferation and migration below base levels in untreated cells. Our findings suggest that alcoholism induces multiple cAMP-dependent PDAC stimulating signaling pathways by up-regulating the protein expression and sensitivity of nAChRs that regulate stress neurotransmitters production. Moreover, our data identify GABA as a promising agent for the prevention of PDAC in individuals at risk due to chronic alcohol consumption. Supported by R01CA042829 and R01CA130888 with the National Cancer Institute Citation Format: Mohammed H. Al-Wadei, Hussein A.N. Al-Wadei, Hildegard M. Schuller. GABA counteracts ethanol induced stimulation of pancreatic cancer cells and normal pancreatic duct epithelia . [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3593. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-3593