Effects of Erlotinib on Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Signaling Pathway in Pancreatic Cancer Cells

The number of people who get and die from pancreatic cancer, a deadly type of tumor, has been rising lately. Epidermal growth factor receptor is a receptor that adds phosphate groups to tyrosine residues and regulates many cell processes, such as growth, movement, invasion, and death. Pancreatic cancer cells have more epidermal growth factor receptor than normal cells, and this affects how they develop and survive. Erlotinib is a drug that blocks epidermal growth factor receptor activity and can treat some lung cancers with epidermal growth factor receptor mutations. The way erlotinib works against pancreatic cancer is still unknown. This research examines the impact of erlotinib on the proliferation and apoptosis of three types of pancreatic cancer cells; PANC-1, BxPC-3, and SW1990. The experiments used the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5 diphenyl tetrazolium bromide assay, Annexin V-fluorescein isothiocyanate/propidium iodide staining, quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Erlotinib can stop pancreatic cancer cells from growing, make them die, and lower the levels and activity of epidermal growth factor receptor and other molecules that send signals from it. This means that erlotinib could fight pancreatic cancer by blocking the epidermal growth factor receptor pathway, and offer a new way to treat it.