FIGURE 3.

Inhibition of Ref-1 increases NRF2 activity in 4 patient-derived cells as well as established PDAC line, PaCa-2. Using three genes (HMOX-1, GCLC, and GCLM) as markers of NRF2 activity, we quantitatively determined the impact of Ref-1 inhibition (black bars) on gene expression by QPCR. PaCa-2 and patient-derived lines were treated with increasing amounts of E3330 for 24 h in medium containing 5% serum. An analog of E3330, RN7–58 (gray bars), was also used but did not induce NRF2 activity. *, p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; #, p < 0.001, comparing drug-treated cells to DMSO vehicle control, n = 3–5.