Dynamins are
GTPases which support receptor-mediated endocytosis and bind to several
tyrosine kinase receptor-associated
proteins known to mediate cell proliferation and differentiation. We have recently established that
dynamin expression correlates with normal neuronal (Torre et al., J. Biol. Chem., 269 (1994) 32411-32417) and acinar pancreatic cell differentiation (Cook et al., Mol. Biol. Cell, 6 (1995) 405a). To begin to understand the role of
dynamin in neoplastic pancreatic cell differentiation, we have followed the expression of this
protein by immunohistochemistry during the development of pancreatic
tumors in a
mancozeb-
nitrosomethylurea (NMU)-based
carcinogenesis model recently developed in our laboratory (Monis and Valentich,
Carcinogenesis, 14 (1993) 929-933). After a single
intraperitoneal injection (50 mg/g body wt) of this
carcinogen, rats fed with
mancozeb develop pancreatic focal acinar
hyperplasia (FACH), dysplastic foci (DYF) displaying acinar-like and ductular-like structures, and ductular-like
carcinoma in situ (CIS). After histochemical staining using a monoclonal anti-
dynamin antibody, high levels of this
protein are consistently observed in well-differentiated acinar
tumors (FACH). In contrast,
dynamin immunoreactivity is almost undetectable in more advanced lesions showing a ductular-like phenotype (ductular-like DYF and CIS). This change in the expression pattern of
dynamin during the progression of acinar into ductular-like DYF and CIS lesions correlates with recent findings from our laboratory showing a differential expression pattern for
dynamin in pancreatic cells during embryonic development, with ductular-like precursor cells expressing low levels of this
protein. Based upon these results, we conclude that more advanced ductular-like neoplastic cells induced by the
carcinogen NMU in rat pancreas behave phenotypically like pancreatic precursor cells in their pattern of expression for
dynamin.