Cancer Associated Fibroblasts Drive Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition and Classical to Basal Change in Pancreatic Cancer Cells with Loss of IL-8 Expression
We examined the transcriptional changes induced by cancer associated fibroblasts in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma patient-derived tumor organoids. We hypothesized that cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) impacted tumor cell transcriptional phenotypes to promote more tumorigenic behavior. Using patient-matched cells from 8 patients, we compared the transcriptional profiles of patient-derived organoids in monoculture to patient-derived organoids co-cultured with autologous CAFs. Similarly, we looked at the transcriptional changes in matched patient-derived CAFs grown in monoculture or co-cultured with patient-derived organoids.
With a focus on intercellular crosstalk, we identified crosstalk between CAFs and patient-derived organoids through changes in tumor cell classification (classical vs basal) and a phenotype of more prominent epithelial to mesenchymal transition. We also identified IL8 as a regulator for maintaining a classical tumor cell phenotype. This was identified by bulk RNA sequencing and examined dynamically in organoid-CAF co-culture. This dbGaP deposit is the bulk RNA sequencing data for these 8 patients. The deposit for 3 additional patients from this cohort who did not receive neoadjuvant chemotherapy can be found at: phs003563.