Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal cancers with high metastatic potential and strong chemoresistance. The capability of a tumor to grow and propagate is dependent on a small subset of cells within a tumor, termed cancer stem cells. Cancer stem cells exhibit great tumorigenicity and are closely correlated with drug resistance and tumor recurrence. The aim of our study was to illustrate electrochemotherapy as an effective treatment for pancreatic cancer along with the expression change in stemness genes (Nanog, Sox2 and Oct3/4) in pancreatic cancer cells post electrochemotherapy with bleomycin, cisplatin and oxaliplatin. Our results showed the enhanced expression of Nanog and decreased expression level of Oct3/4 after electrochemotherpy. We thus propose that these stemness markerS may have important roles in the initiation and/or recurrence of pancreatic cancer, and consequently may serve as important molecular diagnostics and/or therapeutic targets for the development of novel treatment strategies in pancreatic cancer patients. In conclusion, targeting these stemness factors could potentially improve electrochemotherapy as a treatment and preventing recurrence.

胰腺癌是最致命的癌症之一，具有高转移潜力和强大的化学耐药性。肿瘤生长和繁殖的能力取决于肿瘤内一小部分称为癌症干细胞的细胞。癌症干细胞具有巨大的致瘤性，并且与耐药性和肿瘤复发密切相关。我们的研究目的是说明电化学疗法是一种治疗胰腺癌的有效疗法，以及在用博来霉素，顺铂和奥沙利铂进行电化学疗法后，胰腺细胞中干基因（Nanog，Sox2和Oct3 / 4）的表达变化。我们的结果显示，电化学处理后，Nanog的表达增强，Oct3 / 4的表达水平降低。因此，我们提出这些干性标记物可能在胰腺癌的起始和/或复发中起重要作用，并因此可以作为重要的分子诊断和/或治疗靶标，用于开发胰腺癌患者的新治疗策略。总之，针对这些干性因子可能会改善电化学疗法作为治疗方法并预防复发。