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Background & Aims: Acinar to ductal metaplasia (ADM) occurs in the pancreas in response to tissue injury and is a potential precursor for adenocarcinoma. The goal of these studies was to define the populations arising from ADM, the associated transcriptional changes, and markers of disease progression.
Methods: Acinar cells were lineage-traced with enhanced yellow fluorescent protein (EYFP) to follow their fate post-injury. Transcripts of more than 13,000 EYFP+ cells were determined using single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq). Developmental trajectories were generated. Data were compared with gastric metaplasia, Kras-induced neoplasia, and human pancreatitis. Results were confirmed by immunostaining and electron microscopy. Kras was expressed in injury-induced ADM using several inducible Cre drivers. Surgical specimens of chronic pancreatitis from 15 patients were evaluated by immunostaining.
Results: scRNA-seq of ADM revealed emergence of a mucin/ductal population resembling gastric pyloric metaplasia. Lineage trajectories suggest that some pyloric metaplasia cells can generate tuft and enteroendocrine cells (EECs). Comparison with Kras-induced ADM identifies populations associated with disease progression. Activation of Kras expression in HNF1B+ or POU2F3+ ADM populations leads to neoplastic transformation and formation of MUC5AC+ gastric-pit-like cells. Human pancreatitis samples also harbor pyloric metaplasia with a similar transcriptional phenotype.
Conclusions: Under conditions of chronic injury, acinar cells undergo a pyloric-type metaplasia to mucinous progenitor-like populations, which seed disparate tuft cell and EEC lineages. ADM-derived EEC subtypes are diverse. Kras expression is sufficient to drive neoplasia when targeted to injury-induced ADM populations and offers an alternative origin for tumorigenesis. This program is conserved in human pancreatitis, providing insight into early events in pancreas diseases.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1053/j.gastro.2021.10.027 | DOI Listing |
Langenbecks Arch Surg
September 2025
Department of Surgery HBP Unit, Simone Veil Hospital, University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, Troyes, France.
Introduction: Pancreatic adenocarcinomas (PDAC) have a poor prognosis, with a 5-year relative Survival rate of 11.5%. Only 20% of patients are initially eligible for resection, and 50% of patients presented with metastatic disease, currently only candidates' palliative treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNaunyn Schmiedebergs Arch Pharmacol
September 2025
Department of Gastroenterology, Jinhua Central Hospital, Affiliated Jinhua Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Jinhua, 321000, Zhejiang, China.
The fourth leading cause of cancer-related fatalities in the USA is pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), a particularly deadly illness that is resistant to immunotherapy. One of the Main Obstacles in cancer research is developing better treatments for PDAC, which has the lowest 5-year survival rate of any malignancy. Anti-CTLA-4, anti-PD-L1, and anti-PD-1 immune checkpoint blockade medications also have poor results in these patients, which may indicate the presence of other immunosuppressive mechanisms in the pancreatic tumor microenvironment (TME).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCancer
September 2025
Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, USA.
Background: The influence of obesity and sex on outcomes in pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains unclear. The association between obesity (body mass index [BMI], ≥30) and biologic sex (male or female) for outcomes in patients with PDAC undergoing a surgery-first approach was investigated.
Methods: A prospectively maintained pancreatic cancer database at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center was queried to identify all patients undergoing surgery with a pathologic diagnosis of PDAC.
Mater Today Bio
October 2025
Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Occupational Health, Anhui No. 2 Provincial People's Hospital, Hefei, 230041, PR China.
Organ transplantation faces critical challenges, including donor shortages, suboptimal preservation, ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI), and immune rejection. Nanotechnology offers transformative solutions by leveraging precision-engineered materials to enhance graft viability and outcomes. This review highlights nanomaterials' roles in revolutionizing organ preservation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Cell Dev Biol
August 2025
Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Hospital of Putian City, Chengxiang, Fujian, China.
Background: USP37, a versatile deubiquitinase, plays a pivotal role in numerous cellular functions. Although its involvement in cancer development is well-established, the comprehensive pan-cancer analysis of USP37 remains relatively uncharted.
Methods: RNA sequencing data from both normal and cancerous tissues were retrieved from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) databases.