Figure 1.

uPAR promoter activity in pancreatic cancer cell lines and in pancreatic tumors. (A) NIH3T3, HPDE, and RWP1 cells were transfected with the plasmid pAdTrackuPARLuc (shown in the scheme). To normalize for transfection efficiency, pCMVβGal plasmid was used. Forty-eight hours later, luciferase and β-galactosidase activities were determined. Results are expressed as light units (LU) relative to β-galactosidase activity and are shown as the mean ± SEM of three independent experiments. **P = .006, HPDE versus RWP1; **P = .002, NIH3T3 versus RWP1. (B) A total of 20,000 cells/well were seeded in triplicate and infected with either AduPARLuc or AdCMVGFPLuc at 10⁴ vp/cell. Luciferase activity was quantified 72 hours after viral transduction and normalized to total protein levels. Results are expressed as light units per microgram protein. Values are represented as the mean ± SEM of four independent experiments. (C) Percentage of uPAR/CMV luciferase ratio relative to the uPAR/CMV luciferase ratio for RWP1 cells. Values are represented as the mean ± SEM of three or four independent experiments. *P < .05. (D) A total of 3 x 10⁶ BxPC-3 cells were injected SC into each posterior flank of nude mice. When tumors achieved a mean volume of 100 mm³, they were randomized and injected intratumorally with a single 2.5 x 10¹⁰ vp dose of AdCMVGFPLuc (n = 9) or AduPARLuc (n = 10). Shown are representative images and quantification of bioluminescent emission from mice receiving AdCMVGFPLuc (upper panel) or AduPARLuc (lower panel) at days 3, 6, and 10 after viral injection. Results are expressed as photons per second. Values are represented as mean ± SEM. *P = .03.