Figure 1.

FGFR3 has tumor suppressor gene properties in BxPC-3 and Capan-2 pancreatic cell lines. A) Capan-2 cells were transduced with either control (a,d), FGFR3-IIIb (b,e) or FGFR3-IIIc ZsGreen lentivectors (c,f) and observed with a fluorescence microscope (original magnification ×40, bright field, a,b,c, green fluorescence, d,e,). Colonies with strong overexpression of either FGFR3-IIIb or –IIIc were smaller (arrows heads, b, c, e, f) than colonies with lower expression (arrows). Right panel: mean fluorescence intensity was determined for colonies transduced with the same lentivectors as in left panel, and were also transduced with a lentivector carrying a FGFR3-IIIc cDNA with the K508M mutation inactivating the kinase domain. B) FGFR3-IIIb and –IIIc overexpression decreased Capan-2 and BxPC-3 cell proliferation and (C) increased apoptosis. (D) FGFR3 forced expression had opposite effect on cell proliferation of Mia PaCa-2 and PANC-1 cells. NS: nor significant, *p = 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.