Cautionary Colors in the Pancreas

What am I looking at?

This sample of pancreatic tissue from a mouse shows fluorescently labeled precancerous tissue. Red denotes the presence of a protein called keratin (1). Green denotes the presence of a cell adhesion protein called E-cadherin (2). Yellow/orange indicates areas where both proteins are present (3). And the blue dots are the nuclei of surrounding cells (4).

Biology in the background

Pancreatic cancer has the lowest survival rate among all common cancers. The 10-year survival rate in men with pancreatic cancer is only about 1% – and more than half of those diagnosed with pancreatic cancer die within the first three months after their diagnosis. These facts make research into the prevention and treatment of pancreatic cancer very important.

One of the first steps in this research is being able to visualize the tissue that may eventually turn into cancer. This image shows a protein called keratin, which is normally found in hair, nails, and the outer layer of our skin. This protein is not usually found within the cytoskeleton of pancreatic cells. The abnormal presence of keratin in these cells is a sign that they could become cancerous. Markers like this could be useful in developing techniques to establish an individual’s risk of pancreatic cancer and to detect it early.

In humans, a pancreatic cancer cell can grow up to 40 micrometers across, or roughly half the width of a human hair.

Technique

This image was created using confocal microscopy.