Abstract B11: miRNA expression differs between African American and European American patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

Patients diagnosed with pancreatic adenocarcinoma have a median survival of <6 months, a 5-year survival rate of ~5%, and more than 80% of patients are not candidates for surgical intervention. Pancreatic cancer trends over the last 30 years illustrate a striking racial disparity. It is vital to identify specific patient populations which may benefit from selective targeted therapy as generalized clinical development strategies based on toxicity-based dose selection and “all comers” efficacy oriented testing have been unsuccessful. To seek a specific miRNA expression signature characterizing the phenotype of in both AA and EA pancreatic adenocarcinoma tumor cells, we performed laser capture microdissection (LCM) to specifically collect only the tumor cells from bulk tumor. The capabilities of real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RTQ) have recently been expanded with the development of OpenArray, which are able to determine the expression of multiple miRNAs. We identified 16 differentially expressed miRNAs (P<0.05) in LCM isolated tumor cells between tissue samples obtained from African American and European American patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma using OpenArray technology. We believe that the miRNAs identified will allow for patient stratification to identify specific patient populations for future targeted therapies. Citation Format: Lacey R. McNally, Elizabeth H. Kerr, Denise Oelschlager, Cecil Stockard, William E. Grizzle. miRNA expression differs between African American and European American patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Pancreatic Cancer: Progress and Challenges; Jun 18-21, 2012; Lake Tahoe, NV. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(12 Suppl):Abstract nr B11.