1190-P: Diabetes Activates Pancreatic Stellate Cells through RAGE Signaling in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most aggressive carcinoma with poor prognosis. Its poor prognosis is ascribed to the extensive fibrotic stroma. Pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs) are major contributors to PDAC fibrosis. Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is an established risk factor for PDAC. The common mechanistic link might be the accumulation of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) and the signaling through receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE), the receptor for AGEs. Nevertheless, the role of RAGE in PSCs activation was not evaluated in PDAC with T2D. First, PSCs were isolated from male obese T2D model, db/db (db) and db/m (C) mice at 12 weeks of age. mRNA expression of the makers for PSCs activation like TGF-β1, αSMA and collagen type1A1 were significantly increased in PSCs isolated from db compared to C (p