Abstract 5055: Role of insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor in pancreatic cancer pathogenesis

Pancreatic cancer incidence and the associated mortality are increasing worldwide. This indicates that there is a clear lack of understanding about pancreatic cancer pathogenesis. This can be attributed to the lack of specific symptoms to diagnose the disease at an early stage. Various growth factor receptors are known to play a vital role in the development of pancreatic cancer. In the present investigation, we have attempted to target insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF-1R) due to its well-established role in progression of pancreatic cancer. RNA interference (small interfering RNA [siRNAs]) approach targeted to IGF-IR was used to study the effect of IGF-1R silencing on pancreatic cancer growth and metastasis. For this we used HPAC and PANC-1 pancreatic cancer cell lines and primary pancreatic cancer tissue array. Our results demonstrated that silencing IGF-1R remarkably inhibited pancreatic cancer growth and metastasis. Silencing IGF-1R significantly altered key signaling molecules such as PI3K, AKT, MAPK, ERK1/2, mTOR, PTEN, p70S6K, JAK2 and STAT3. Further IGF-1R silencing also reduced epithelial to mesenchymal transition (N-Cad, Notch, Snail, Slug and Vimentin). In addition, silencing IGF-1R inhibited cell viability, invasive and migratory capabilities of PANC-1 and HPAC pancreatic cancer cell lines. Colony forming ability was also drastically reduced in IGF-1R silenced cells. Flow cytometric analysis revealed the induction of apoptosis in IGF-1R silenced cells. Interestingly, silencing IGF-1R decreased the expression of Kras, which is altered in almost 95% of pancreatic cancers. Overall, our data clearly demonstrates the significance of IGF-1R in pancreatic cancer pathogenesis and also identifies IGF-1R as a potential target for pancreatic cancer treatment and therapy. Citation Format: Ramadevi Subramani Reddy, Arunkumar Arumugam, Sushmita Bose Nandy, Elizabeth Gonzalez, Viviana Gonzalez, Sandrine Bonkoungou, Andrew Ortega, Rajkumar Lakshmanaswamy. Role of insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor in pancreatic cancer pathogenesis. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 5055. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-5055