Adjuvant hormonal treatment with peptide YY or its analog decreases human pancreatic carcinoma growth

Background Recent studies have revealed decreased pancreatic cancer cell growth upon administration of peptide YY (PYY). We examined whether adjuvant treatment with PYY or its synthetic analog, BIM-43004, would decrease human pancreatic adenocarcinoma growth. Materials and Methods Human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas, MiaPaCa-2 and BxPC-3, were cultured and assessed for growth by MTT assay. Pancreatic cancer cells received 500 pmol of PYY or BIM-43004 for 24 hours prior to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU; 10 ug/mL) and leucovorin (40 Mg/mL) administration. Cell membrane epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptors were analyzed by Western blotting after exposure to peptides and chemotherapy. Results Cancer cell growth was reduced in all groups receiving hormonal pretreatment (23% PYY/5-FU/leucovorin versus control; 27% BIM-43004/5-FU/leucovorin versus control) as compared with groups receiving 5-FU and leucovorin only (16% versus control). The EGF receptor expression was reduced by 30% in cells treated with PYY/5-FU/leucovorin and by 45% in cells treated with BIM/5-FU/leucovorin as compared with control cells without treatment. Conclusion Human pancreatic cancer cell growth is further decreased when pretreated with PYY or its synthetic analog prior to chemotherapy. Am J Surg. 1996;171; 192–196.