Objective:To investigate the significance of pancreatic cancer cells resistance to chemoradiotherapy induces EMT.
Methods:Several pancreatic cancer cell lines were exposed to gemzar while radiotherapy was given at the same time. After about two weeks,when 90% pancertic cancer cells were killed, a small number of cells resistant to chemoradiotherapy was obtained, and their morphological changes were observed by microscopy; transwell test was used to detect invasiveness, and western-blot was used to detect expression of epithelial marker E-cad and mesenchymal marker vimentin.
Results:Pancreatic cancer cells resistance to chemoradiotherapy showed phenotypic changes consistent with EMT: spindle-cell shape,loss of polarity, and pseudopodia formation.BxPC3,jf305 and pc3  cells resistance to chemoradiotherapy exhibited an increase in migrating and invading (P﹤0.05, respectively). Pancreatic cancer cells resistance to chemoradiotherapy also had decreased expression of E-cadherin and an increase in vimentin.
Conclusions:Pancreatic cancer cells resistance to chemoradiotherapy can induce epithelial-mesenchymal transition(EMT),and EMT may be related to resistance of chemoradiotherapy of pancreatic cancer.