Macrophages Effect on Chemoresistance

Macrophages are derived from monocytes recruited to the tumor site and stimulated by specific chemokines secreted by tumor cells. These tumor associated macrophages (TAMs) have been postulated as being involved in the progression of cancer. Based on our preliminary findings and on published data we hypothesized that macrophage-induced chemoresistance (MIC) can promote survival of pancreatic carcinoma cells during chemotherapy. The overall goal of this study is to evaluate the mechanism of MIC in an in-vitro model of Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA). methods: 1. The human PDA cell line Panc1 will be grown in suitable conditions. 2. Macrophages will be produced by incubating mononuclear cells from the blood of healthy donors in medium with M-CSF for 7 days. 3. TAMs will be generated by culturing these macrophages with tumor-culture conditioning medium (TCCM) of PDA Cells for an additional 72 hours. 4. Human pancreatic cells (PANC1) will be treated with gemcitabine following exposure to macrophages CM. 5. Cell proliferation will be quantified by light microscopy and by an XTT Cell Proliferation Assay Kit.