Description

The ATG7 Knockout PANC-1 Cell Line is a CRISPR/Cas9-edited knockout cell line derived from the PANC-1 human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cell line. This model features targeted disruption of the ATG7 gene, generating a loss-of-function system for studying autophagy. It provides a defined genetic background for investigating the role of autophagy in cancer cell biology, enabling precise mechanistic and functional analyses in a well-characterized pancreatic cancer model.

PANC-1 is a widely used human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cell line established from a primary carcinoma. It exhibits epithelial morphology and retains oncogenic KRAS mutation, invasive properties, and tumorigenic capacity. This cell line is a standard model for pancreatic cancer research, including studies of drug resistance, metabolic adaptation, and metastasis. Its robust growth and compatibility with xenograft models make it an ideal host for generating gene knockouts to investigate tumor biology.

ATG7 encodes an E1-like enzyme essential for two ubiquitin-like conjugation systems that drive autophagosome formation. It activates ATG12 for conjugation to ATG5 and ATG8 family proteins for lipidation, yielding the ATG12?CATG5?CATG16L1 complex and lipidated LC3 (LC3-II). These steps are critical for phagophore expansion. mTORC1 suppresses while AMPK and the ULK1 complex promote ATG7 activity in response to nutrient status. Key interacting partners include ATG3, ATG10, and ATG8 homologs. Disruption of ATG7 abolishes these cascades, blocking autophagosome biogenesis.

In PANC-1 cells, ATG7 knockout provides a powerful tool to study autophagy dependency in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Autophagy supports tumor cell survival under metabolic stress and drug exposure, contributing to chemoresistance and progression. Loss of ATG7 abrogates autophagic flux, sensitizing cells to nutrient deprivation and potentially enhancing vulnerability to therapies. This model enables investigation of autophagy??s role in mitochondrial quality control, redox homeostasis, and energy balance, as well as alternative cell death pathways activated upon autophagy blockade in KRAS-driven cancers.

The ATG7 Knockout PANC-1 Cell Line supports a broad range of experimental applications, including western blotting for LC3 and ATG7, autophagy flux assays with chloroquine, LC3 immunofluorescence, and cell viability assays under nutrient deprivation. It is also suitable for drug sensitivity profiling, migration/invasion analyses, and in vivo tumor xenograft studies. These assays facilitate dissection of autophagy??s contribution to tumor growth, metastasis, and therapeutic resistance. For further information or to discuss custom applications, please contact Ascent Research.