Expression of CCR5 and its ligand CCL5 in pancreatic cancer

Abstract

Abstract Despite recent advancements in understanding of pancreatic cancer (PC) molecular features and their impact on clinical behavior, PC systemic therapy decision-making is still guided by a constellation of clinico-pathological features, which are derived from histo-pathological analysis of primary PC tissues. Chemokines and their corresponding receptors play a crucial role in metastasis and organ specific homing of cancer cells in different cancers including PC. CCL5 is a homeostatic chemokine acts through its cognate receptor, CCR5. Here, we have provided the evidence that CCR5 and CCL5 are significantly elevated in both PC cell lines (BxPC-3, MIA PaCa-2 and AsPC-1) and clinical samples. Flow cytometric analysis of PC cell lines (BxPC-3, MIA PaCa-2 and AsPC-1) show significantly higher expression of CCR5. These findings were further confirmed at mRNA expression level by real-time PCR analysis. To determine the clinical significance of CCR5 expressed by PC cell lines, pancreatic cancer tissue microarray was stained for CCR5 and CCL5. Aperio scan scope scanning system was used to numerically analyze immuno-histochemical staining of CCR5 and CCL5. Our results show significantly (p < 0.001) higher expression of CCR5 and CCL5 in cancerous tissues compared to normal pancreatic tissues. These data demonstrate both biological and clinical significance of CCR5 and CCL5 expression that may contribute to PC metastasis.