Abstract:Objective ：To observe the therapeutic effect of 5-FU on pancreatic carcinoma after xenografts transfected with SSTR2 in vivo. Methods ：Human pancreatic cancer cells (panc-1) were inoculated subcutaneously to the back of nude mice. The animals were then divided into 4 groups randomly( n =6/group) when tumor nodules grew to about 5mm×5mm seven days later. Group I served as an untreated control, group II received 5-FU via intraperitoneal injection, group III received an intratumoral injection of a combination of pCMV-6C-SSTR2 and lipofectamine 2000; Group IV recieved 5-FU via intraperitoneal injection and intratumoral injection of SSTR2. Finally, the animals were anesthetized and the tumors were excised and weighed. The result of transfection was detected by immunohistochemistry and Western-blot. A quantification of apoptosis rate was then performed using Tunel method. Results ：The expression of SSTR2 was detected in pancreatic xenografts of group III and IV transfected by pCMV-6C-SSTR2-lipofectamine2000. Combination of SSTR2 gene therapy and 5-FU chemotherapy resulted in a significant effect. The tumor group rate of group IV was slower than that of the other three groups （ P <0.01），the final size and weight of tumor was smaller than that of the other three groups（ P <0.01）, but the apoptosis rate of pancreatic cancer cells was higher than that of the other three groups （ P <0.01）. Conclusions ：Reexpression of SSTR2 can ehance the sensitivity of pancreatic carcinoma cells to 5-FU; combination SSTR2 gene therapy and 5-FU chemotherapy may be a new upproach for therapy of pancreatic carcinoma.