However, gemcitabine, paclitaxel, or cisplatin treatment enhanced the Akt activation, heterodimer formation of EGFR with HER3, and secretion of amphiregulin, indicating that the presence of gemcitabine promoted the activity of targeted molecules including amphiregulin, Akt, and HER3 for pancreatic cancer therapy.
These findings suggest that D-type cyclins are differentially expressed in pancreatic cancer and that the aberrant activation of the EGF receptor in human pancreatic cancer by amphiregulin may lead to the progression of the cell cycle via induction of cyclin D3 expression, thus contributing to the growth advantage of these transformed cells.
These findings indicate that there is an important EGFR/ amphiregulin autocrine loop in T3M4 cells and raise the possibility that modalities aimed at abrogating amphiregulin action may prove useful in pancreatic cancer, especially when used in conjunction with EGFR-targeted therapy.