Fig 3.

Effect of gemcitabine treatment on selected PDAC cell lines and tumour xenografts. (A) BxPC-3 and SU86.86 cells were treated with 50-1000nM gemcitabine (Gem) in vitro for up to 7 days. Media and drugs were replenished every third day. Cell viability and proliferation was measured as in Fig. 1A (mean ± S.D (error bars), n=4). (B) BxPC-3 and SU86.86 tumor-bearing mice were treated with saline as a control or with gemcitabine at 120mg/kg or 240mg/kg i.p. once per week over a period of four weeks. Treatment was initiated when tumors reached 100-150 mm³ (day 24 for BxPC-3 and day 25 for SU86.86). Tumor growth was monitored using digital callipers. Tumor growth is presented as relative tumor size, where tumor volumes were normalized with respect to the tumor volume of each mouse on the initial day of treatment and the average of each group was plotted. Arrows indicate the last day of treatment for each tumor model. (mean ± S.E.M (error bars), n=6 for all groups at the start of the study).