Pancreatic Stromal Cell-derived Oncostatin M Confers Drug Resistance to a Multi-tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor in Pancreatic Cancer Cells

Background/aim: Pancreatic cancer is known to have one of the worst prognoses of all cancers, and its tumor cells are highly resistant to chemotherapeutic drugs. Pancreatic cancer cells coexist with stromal cells; however, their involvement in anticancer drug resistance remains poorly understood. Thus, in this study, we analyzed drug sensitivity using an in vitro co-culture system containing pancreatic cancer cells and stromal cells treated with a compound library.

Materials and methods: We examined the viability of the pancreatic cancer cell lines BxPC-3, Capan-1, and Panc-1 against compounds in an in vitro co-culture model containing pancreatic stromal cells (PSCs) and analyzed the protein expression for drug resistance by western blotting.

Results: We found that co-cultured pancreatic cancer cells were resistant to vandetanib, which is an inhibitor of multi-tyrosine kinases. The key factor involved in drug resistance in these pancreatic cancer cells was oncostatin M, which was secreted by stromal cells. The addition of oncostatin M increased the vandetanib resistance of pancreatic cancer cells, while it inhibited the suppression of insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS1) and the phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) by vandetanib.

Conclusion: Oncostatin M secreted by stromal cells derived from the pancreas activates the IRS1-ERK axis, causing resistance to vandetanib.