Figure 7.

Hoxb6⁺fibroblasts do not contribute to the pancreatic stroma. (A) Genetic scheme for the KF;Hoxb6^CreERT/+;RYFP model. (B) Experimental design for labeling healthy Hoxb6⁺ cells before PanIN generation. Adult mice 5–8 weeks old were given 5 tamoxifen gavages and rested a week before 2 days of cerulein injections to induce pancreatitis. After 3 weeks, mice were harvested. (C) A representative YFP IHC image of a Hoxb6^CreERT/+;RYFP mouse following the protocol. Scale bar: 100 um. (D) IHC staining for YFP in KF;Hoxb6^CreERT/+;RYFP and KF control (inset) mice labeled before PanIN generation. Scale bar: 100 um. (E) IF staining panels of YFP (green), PDGFRβ (red), cytokeratin 19 (CK19) (white), DAPI (blue); and YFP (green), αSMA (red), amylase (pink), and DAPI (blue) in KF;Hoxb6^CreERT/+;RYFP mice labeled before PanIN generation. Scale bar: 50 um. (F) Flow cytometry quantification of the percentage of CD45^- PDGFR⁺ cells that expressed YFP in lineage-traced Gli1 and Hoxb6 mice and their controls (n ≥ 5). (G) Experimental design for labeling after PanIN generation. Adult mice 5–8 weeks old were given cerulein injections, rested for 2 weeks, and then given 5 gavages of tamoxifen before tissue collection. (H) IHC staining for YFP in KF;Gli1^CreERT/+;RYFP and KF;Hoxb6^CreERT/+;RYFP mice labeled after PanIN generation. Inset shows KF control. Scale bar: 100 um. (C) Flow cytometry quantification of the percentage of CD45^-PDGFR⁺ cells that express YFP in KF;Gli1^CreERT/+;RYFP and KF;Hoxb6^CreERT/+;RYFP mice labeled after PanIN generation (n ≥ 3). All data are expressed as means ± SEM. AMY, amylase.