Transplantable pancreatic acinar carcinoma

Structural characterization of a rat acinar cell tumor

A transplantable acinar cell tumor of the rat pancreas has been examined by light and electron microscopy. The tumor cells, though highly cytodifferentiated and characterized by the presence of abundant rough-surfaced endoplasmic reticulum, elements of the Golgi complex, and zymogen granules, undergo mitosis in a manner similar to that seen in the developing pancreas. Cells in the parenchyma of the tumor grow as disarrayed cords and sheets, are randomly oriented with respect to each other, and do not form acinar structures. However, when in contact with the adventitial surface of blood vessels, the tumor cells palisade and form a polarized layer of cells with their zymogen granule-rich poles oriented away from the vessel lumen. Only in this area of the tumor is a basal lamina present that underlies the basal plasmalemma of the reoriented epithelial cells. Freeze-fracture electron microscopy of tumor cells in the parenchyma shows extensive disruption of tight junctions whose sealing strands are randomly distributed over the entire plasmalemma. Gap junctions are infrequent and when present are often enclosed by tight-junctional strands. Intramembrane particles are randomly distributed over the cell surface. Both the absence of basal lamina and derangement of the junctional complexes may account in part for the altered morphogenesis of this tumor.

Biochemical analysis of secretory proteins synthesized by normal rat pancreas and by pancreatic acinar tumor cells

We have examined the secretogogue responsiveness and the pattern of secretory proteins produced by a transplantable rat pancreatic acinar cell tumor. Dispersed tumor cells were found to discharge secretory proteins in vitro when incubated with hormones that act on four different classes of receptors: carbamylcholine, caerulein, secretin-vasoactive intestinal peptide, and bombesin. With all hormones tested, maximal discharge from tumor cells was only about one-half that of control pancreatic lobules, but occurred at the same dose optima except for secretin, whose dose optimum was 10-fold higher. Biochemical analysis of secretory proteins discharged by the tumor cells was carried out by crossed immunoelectrophoresis and by two-dimensional isoelectric focusing-SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. To establish a baseline for comparison, secretory proteins from normal rat pancreas were identified according to enzymatic activity and correlated with migration position on two-dimensional gels. Our results indicate that a group of basic polypeptides including proelastase, basic trypsinogen, basic chymotrypsinogen, and ribonuclease, two out of three forms of procarboxypeptidase B, and the major lipase species were greatly reduced or absent in tumor cell secretion. In contrast, the amount of acidic chymotrypsinogen was notably increased compared with normal acinar cells. Although the acinar tumor cells are highly differentiated cytologically and express functional receptors for several classes of pancreatic secretagogues, they show quantitative and qualitative differences when compared with normal pancreas with regard to their production of secretory proteins.

Concanavalin A binding and cytodifferentiation in pancreatic acinar carcinoma of rat

The binding of concanavalin A to the plasmalemma of acinar carcinoma cells was characterized by electron microscopy utilizing horseradish peroxidase. Heavy labeling due to specific concanavalin A binding was detected on the plasmalemma of undifferentiated carcinoma cells lacking zymogen maturation, neoplastic cells of intermediate differentiation with only occasional zymogen granules, and highly differentiated acinar carcinoma cells containing numerous cytoplasmic zymogen granules. The plasmalemma of acinar carcinoma cells was also compared to the normal pancreatic acinar cell plasmalemma by measurement of specific 125I-labeled concanavalin A binding. Although only about one-third of pancreatic acinar carcinoma cells demonstrate mature zymogen differentiation, the acinar carcinoma had a full complement of normal plasmalemma receptors for 125I-labeled concanavalin A. It is concluded that, unlike normal pancreas, the presence of concanavalin A receptors on the plasmalemma of acinar carcinoma cells is not a specific membrane marker for differentiated cells containing zymogen granules.