The significance of CD44 in human pancreatic cancer: II. The role of CD44 in human pancreatic adenocarcinoma invasion.

In our previous report (1), we showed the high expression of CD44 in human pancreatic adenocarcinomas cells. Pancreatic cancer aggressively invades surrounding tissues by penetrating basement membrane barriers. To examine the relation between the biological characteristics of human pancreatic adenocarcinoma cells and CD44 expression, we studied the function of CD44 in cell proliferation and cell invasion using a Matrigel basement membrane. The proliferation of human pancreatic adenocarcinoma cells was not affected by anti-CD44 antibody. On the contrary, invasion of the cells was suppressed by anti-CD44 antibody. This result suggests that the CD44 molecule plays an important role in pancreatic cancer cell invasion of the basement membrane.