Induction of mouse pancreatic ductal differentiation, an in vitro assay

Abstract Despite recent technical advances for studying lineage tracing and gene functions, our knowledge of pancreatic duct progenitor cells and mechanisms involved in their differentiation remains a huge void in our understanding of pancreatic development. A deeper insight into ductal differentiation is needed because ductal cells may harbor pancreatic stem/progenitor cells that could give rise to new islets. Also, since the most common pancreatic tumors form structures expressing ductal cell-specific markers, studies of ductal development may provide better markers for pancreatic tumor classification. One major longstanding problem in the study of pancreatic ductal differentiation has been the lack of an effective in vitro model. We thus wished to develop an in vitro system for the study of pancreatic duct development. In doing so, we have developed a specific culture condition to promote ductal differentiation of E11.5 pancreatic rudiments. Normally, pancreatic explants cultured in vitro develop to form endocrine, acinar, as well as ductal cells. Here, we report that addition of a combination of EGF, fibroblast growth factor-10, and platelet-derived growth factor-AA to the explant cultures promotes ductal differentiation, while preventing endocrine and acinar differentiation. This culture system for differentiation and enrichment of pancreatic ductal cells may allow identification of gene(s) involved in ductal development

Primary explant cultures of adult and embryonic pancreas.

Summary The developmental plasticity of adult pancreas is evidenced by the ability to undergo conversion between different epithelial cell types. Specific examples of such conversions include acinar to ductal metaplasia, ductal to islet metaplasia, and generation of ductal structures within islets. Although 90% of human pancreatic cancers are classified as ductal adenocarcinoma, markers of all pancreatic epithelial cell types (acini, ductal, and endocrine) as well as markers of gastric and intestinal lineages can be detected in these tumors. In recent years considerable knowledge has been gained regarding regulation of cellular differentiation and various signaling pathways involved in normal and neoplastic pancreas through studies of pancreatic cancer and immortalized ductal cell lines. However, these studies provide little insight into the context of normal developmental cues, the disruption of which leads to organ pathology. Here we have described a detailed method for preparation, maintenance, and manipulation of adult and embryonic mouse pancreas. These methods may be utilized in studies involving normal epithelial differentiation, contributing to improved understanding of pancreatic development and disease

Wnt/β-catenin signaling is required for development of the exocrine pancreas

BACKGROUND: β-catenin is an essential mediator of canonical Wnt signaling and a central component of the cadherin-catenin epithelial adhesion complex. Dysregulation of β-catenin expression has been described in pancreatic neoplasia. Newly published studies have suggested that β-catenin is critical for normal pancreatic development although these reports reached somewhat different conclusions. In addition, the molecular mechanisms by which loss of β-catenin affects pancreas development are not well understood. The goals of this study then were; 1] to further investigate the role of β-catenin in pancreatic development using a conditional knockout approach and 2] to identify possible mechanisms by which loss of β-catenin disrupts pancreatic development. A Pdx1-cre mouse line was used to delete a floxed β-catenin allele specifically in the developing pancreas, and embryonic pancreata were studied by immunohistochemistry and microarray analysis. RESULTS: Pdx1-cre floxed β-catenin animals were viable but demonstrated small body size and shortened median survival. The pancreata from knockout mice were hypoplastic and histologically demonstrated a striking paucity of exocrine pancreas, acinar to duct metaplasia, but generally intact pancreatic islets containing all lineages of endocrine cells. In animals with extensive acinar hypoplasia, putative hepatocyte transdifferention was occasionally observed. Obvious and uniform pancreatic hypoplasia was observed by embryonic day E16.5. Transcriptional profiling of Pdx1-cre floxed β-catenin embryonic pancreata at E14.5, before there was a morphological phenotype, revealed significant decreases in the β-catenin target gene N-myc, and the basic HLH transcription factor PTF1, and an increase of several pancreatic zymogens compared to control animals. By E16.5, there was a dramatic loss of exocrine markers and an increase in Hoxb4, which is normally expressed anterior to the pancreas. CONCLUSION: We conclude that β-catenin expression is required for development of the exocrine pancreas, but is not required for development of the endocrine compartment. In contrast, β-catenin/Wnt signaling appears to be critical for proliferation of PTF1+ nascent acinar cells and may also function, in part, to maintain an undifferentiated state in exocrine/acinar cell precursors. Finally, β-catenin may be required to maintain positional identity of the pancreatic endoderm along the anterior-posterior axis. This data is consistent with the findings of frequent β-catenin mutations in carcinomas of acinar cell lineage seen in humans

The role of cell adhesion molecules in tissue formation and organogenesis

Cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) are cell surface glycoproteins that promote connection between two adjacent cells or between a cell and extra cellular matrix. These interactions are essential for tissue organisation during development and for the maintenance of tissue integrity in adult organisms. The aim of this thesis was to study the functional role of cadherins and N-CAM in tissue formation and organogenesis. To investigate the role of R-cadherin in tissue formation, we expressed R-cadherin constitutively in E-cad-/- ES cells (E-cad-/-/R-cad). When injected subcutaneously into syngenic hosts, ES cells form benign and solid teratomas. Under such conditions, injected wild type ES cells differentiated into a variety of tissues. In contrast, no organised structures were observed in tumors derived from E-cad-/- ES cells. However, in teratomas derived from E-cad-/-/R-cad ES cells, two tissue types appeared, namely striated muscle and epithelia. These results demonstrate that R-cadherin may be involved in formation of striated muscle and epithelium. In order to analyse the functional role of N-CAM in pancreatic islet cell type segregation, we employed N-CAM-deficient mice. In N-CAM mutant mice the normal localisation of a-cells in the periphery of the islets of Langerhans is lost, resulting in a disorganised islet cell architecture Furthermore, an increase in the clustering of cadherins, F-actin, and cell-cell junctions is observed, indicating enhanced cell polarisation and cadherin-mediated cell adhesion in these cells. Finally, degranulation of b-cells suggests that N-CAM is required for normal turnover of insulin-containing secretory granules. Taken together, we show for the first time in vivo that a cell adhesion molecule, in this case N-CAM, is involved in cell type segregation. Possible mechanisms may include changes in cadherin-mediated cell adhesion and cell polarity.During pancreatic ontogeny N-cadherin is initially expressed in the pancreatic mesenchyme and later in pancreatic endoderms, suggesting that it may regulate different aspects of pancreatic morphogeneis. Analysis of N-cadherin-deficient embryos revealed that these embryos suffer from a selective agenesis of the dorsal pancreas. Further analysis demonstrated that the mechanism for the lack of a dorsal pancreas involves an essential function of N-cadherin as a survival factor in the dorsal pancreatic mesenchyme

BRAFV600E mutation and DSS treatment synergize to induce cecal tumor formation in mice

BRAF mutation is a driver mutation in colorectal cancer (CRC), and BRAFV600E mutation is found in 10–15 % of all CRCs. BRAF mutant CRCs in patients are primarily localized in the right colon, including the cecum. However, in the Vill-Cre;BRAFV600E/+ mice, adenomas mainly developed in the small intestines of the mice, and no tumor formed in the cecum. The mice model of BRAFV600E-mutant CRC with tumors in the cecum is lacking. Dextran Sulfate Sodium (DSS) treatment induces colitis in mice. Acute DSS treatment does not lead to tumor formation. We show that DSS treatment and BRAFV600E mutation synergistically induced cecal tumorigenesis, and cecal tumors formed within three months after five-day DSS treatment. The location of the adenomas supports the patient relevance of the model. Our BRAFV600E/DSS model provides a valuable in vivo model for future identification and validation of novel therapeutic approaches for treating BRAF-mutant CRC. Our results are consistent with the notion that BRAFV600E mutation is an oncogenic event that can shift controlled regeneration to unrestrained oncogenesis

Origin of exocrine pancreatic cells from nestin-positive precursors in developing mouse pancreas

Abstract During pancreatic development, endocrine and exocrine cell types arise from common precursors in foregut endoderm. However, little information is available regarding regulation of pancreatic epithelial differentiation in specific precursor populations. We show that undifferentiated epithelial precursors in E10.5 mouse pancreas express nestin, an intermediate filament also expressed in neural stem cells. Within developing pancreatic epithelium, nestin is co-expressed with pdx1 and p48, but not ngn3. Epithelial nestin expression is extinguished upon differentiation of endocrine and exocrine cell types, and no nestin-positive epithelial cells are observed by E15.5. In E10.5 dorsal bud explants, activation of EGF signaling results in maintenance of undifferentiated nestin-positive precursors at the expense of differentiated acinar cells, suggesting a precursor/progeny relationship between these cell types. This relationship was confirmed by rigorous lineage tracing studies using nestin regulatory elements to drive Cre-mediated labeling of nestin-positive precursor cells and their progeny. These experiments demonstrate that a nestin promoter/enhancer element containing the second intron of the mouse nestin locus is active in undifferentiated E10.5 pancreatic epithelial cells, and that these nestin-positive precursors contribute to the generation of differentiated acinar cells. As in neural tissue, nestin-positive cells act as epithelial progenitors during pancreatic development, and may be regulated by EGF receptor activity.