Expression of gemcitabine metabolizing enzymes and stromal components reveal complexities of preclinical pancreatic cancer models for therapeutic testing

Background Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) poorly responds to antineoplastic agents. Discrepancies between preclinical success and clinical failure of compounds has been a continuous challenge and major obstacle in PDAC research. Aim To investigate the association of the tumor microenvironment (TME) composition and gemcitabine metabolizing enzyme (GME) expression in vitro and several in vivo models. Methods mRNA expression and protein levels of GME (cytosolic 5′-nucleotidase 1 A; NT5C1A, cytidine deaminase; CDA, deoxycytidine kinase; DCK), gemcitabine transporters (ENT1, ENT2, RRM1, RRM2) and stromal components (hyaluroninc acid, podoplanin, masson trichrome, picrosirius) were assessed by qRT-PCR and immunohistochemistry in murine LSL-KrasG12D/+;LSL-Trp53R172 H/+; Pdx-1-Cre (KPC), orthotopically transplanted mice (OTM), human primary resected PDAC tissue (hPRT), corresponding patient-derived xenograft (PDX) mice, and KPC-SPARC−/- mice. mRNA expression of GME was analyzed in PDAC cell lines (Panc-1, MIA PaCa, BXPC3 and L3.6) upon incubation on collagen or pancreatic stellate cell (PSC) conditioned media by qRT-PCR. Results Endogenous KPC tumors exhibited significantly higher levels of GME compared to OTM. However, GME levels did not differ between hPRT and corresponding PDX mice. Using Kendalls Tau correlation coefficient we did not show a significant correlation of GME and components of the TME except for NT5C1A and hyaluronic acid in PDX mice (p=0.029). GME were not significantly altered upon SPARC depletion in vivo, and upon treatment with PSC-conditioned media or incubation on collagen plated dishes in vitro. Conclusions Our findings suggest that the expression of GME is independent from the deposition of stromal components. KPC mice are most appropriate to study stromal composition whereas PDX mice maintain GME expression of the corresponding hPRT and could be best suited for pharmacokinetic studies.