Pancreatic Cell News Volume 2.28 | Jul 19 2011

Generation of Pancreatic Insulin-Producing Cells From Rhesus Monkey Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
Here researchers try to generate insulin-producing cells from rhesus monkey induced pluripotent stem cells. [Diabetologia]

Association Between the GIPR Gene and the Insulin Level After Glucose Loading in Schizophrenia Patients Treated with Olanzapine
Researchers assessed the influence of the glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide receptor (GIPR) gene polymorphism (rs10423928) on glucose metabolism in 60 schizophrenic patients treated with olanzapine and 103 healthy controls. [Pharmacogenomics J]

Apelin Alleviates Diabetes-Associated Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress in the Pancreas of Akita Mice
Researchers aimed to investigate the effects of apelin on endoplasmic reticulum stress in the pancreas of Akita mice, a well-established type 1 diabetic model. [Peptides]

Improved Outcome of Islet Transplantation in Partially Pancreatectomized Diabetic Mice by Inhibition of Dipeptidyl Peptidase-4 with Sitagliptin
This study was designed to evaluate the effects of sitagliptin, a dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor, on the outcome of islet transplantation in diabetic mice after partial pancreatectomy. [Pancreas]

PANCREATIC CANCER

Oncogene-Induced Nrf2 Transcription Promotes ROS Detoxification and Tumorigenesis
Here, researchers investigated reactive oxygen species (ROS) metabolism in primary murine cells following the expression of endogenous oncogenic alleles of Kras, Braf and Myc, and found that ROS are actively suppressed by these oncogenes. [Nature]

Advancing a Clinically Relevant Perspective of the Clonal Nature of Cancer
Researchers applied DNA content-based flow sorting to identify and isolate the nuclei of clonal populations from tumor biopsies, which was coupled with array CGH and targeted resequencing. [Proc Nat Acad Sci USA]

A Dose Escalation Study of Gemcitabine Plus Oxaliplatin in Combination with Imatinib for Gemcitabine-Refractory Advanced Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma
This study aimed to define safe doses of gemcitabine plus oxaliplatin when combined with imatinib in patients with advanced gemcitabine-refractory pancreatic cancer. [Ann Oncol]

Pinhole Micro-SPECT/CT for Noninvasive Monitoring and Quantitation of Oncolytic Virus Dispersion and Percent Infection in Solid Tumors
The purpose of this study was to validate the ability of pinhole micro-single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography (SPECT/CT) to accurately resolve the intratumoral dispersion pattern and quantify the infection percentage in solid tumors of an oncolytic measles virus encoding the human sodium iodide symporter. [Gene Ther]

Comprehensive Genomic Analysis of a BRCA2 Deficient Human Pancreatic Cancer
Here researchers report a genome-wide assessment of structural variations and high-depth exome characterization of single nucleotide variants and small insertion/deletions in Capan-1. [PLoS One]

Galectin-1 Secreted by Activated Stellate Cells in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Stroma Promotes Proliferation and Invasion of Pancreatic Cancer Cells: An In Vitro Study on the Microenvironment of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma
This study aimed to clarify that the activated pancreatic stellate cells are the origin of the highly expressed galectin-1 in the stroma of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma tissue and to evaluate the effect of the secreted galectin-1 on proliferation and invasion ability of pancreatic cancer cell line CFPAC-1 in vitro. [Pancreas]