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Pancreatic cancer (PC), the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths, is characterized by high aggressiveness and resistance to chemotherapy. Pancreatic carcinogenesis is kept going by derangement of essential cell processes, such as proliferation, apoptosis, metabolism and autophagy, characterized by rhythmic variations with 24-h periodicity driven by the biological clock. We assessed the expression of the circadian genes ARNLT, ARNLT2, CLOCK, PER1, PER2, PER3, CRY1, CRY2 and the starvation-activated histone/protein deacetylase SIRT1 in 34 matched tumor and non-tumor tissue specimens of PC patients, and evaluated in PC derived cell lines if the modulation of SIRT1 expression through starvation could influence the temporal pattern of expression of the circadian genes. We found a significant down-regulation of ARNLT (p = 0.015), CRY1 (p = 0.013), CRY2 (p = 0.001), PER1 (p 0.0001), PER2 (p 0.001), PER3 (p = 0.001) and SIRT1 (p = 0.017) in PC specimens. PER3 and CRY2 expression levels were lower in patients with jaundice at diagnosis ( 0.05). Having adjusted for age, adjuvant therapy and tumor stage, we evidenced that patients with higher PER2 and lower SIRT1 expression levels showed lower mortality (p = 0.028). Levels and temporal patterns of expression of many circadian genes and SIRT1 significantly changed upon serum starvation in vitro, with differences among four different PC cell lines examined (BXPC3, CFPAC, MIA-PaCa-2 and PANC-1). Serum deprivation induced changes of the overall mean level of the wave and amplitude, lengthened or shortened the cycle time and phase-advanced or phase-delayed the rhythmic oscillation depending on the gene and the PC cell line examined. In conclusion, a severe deregulation of expression of SIRT1 and circadian genes was evidenced in the cancer specimens of PC patients, and starvation influenced gene expression in PC cell lines, suggesting that the altered interplay between SIRT1 and the core circadian proteins could represent a crucial player in the process of pancreatic carcinogenesis.

The biological hard-wiring of 24-hour rhythmicity relies on the circadian clock circuitry, made of peripheral oscillators operated by molecular clockworks and synchronized through humoral and neural outputs by central oscillators located in the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nuclei. Metabolically active tissues, such as the liver, are entrained also by local cues represented by metabolic flux related to feeding. The mechanics of the molecular clockwork have been explored by studies using cell lines and wild type or genetically engineered mouse models. There is a compelling need to reduce the use of animals in experimental settings. The aim of our study was to evaluate the periodicity and dynamics of functioning of the hepatic clock gene machinery in human and mouse hepatic models. We compared the results obtained in human hepatoma cells (HepG2 cells) and in mouse liver, and a significant 24-hour rhythmic component was found for five clock genes in the HepG2 cells (Bmal1, Cry1, Per1, Per2, NR1D1) and for six clock genes in the mouse liver (Bmal1, Clock, Cry1, Per1, Per2, NR1D1). The amplitude of oscillation rendered by the cosine curve and the dynamics of expression rendered by the rate of change (the derivative of gene expression level with respect to time) were greater in the mouse liver than in the HepG2 cells for Bmal1, Per1, Per2 and NR1D1, and the cosine curve phase was different for many of them. In conclusion, the periodicity of expression of the clock genes showed similar patterns when the two experimental models were compared, whereas the dynamics of transcription in human hepatoma cells cultured in vitro were less vigorous and phased in a different way when compared to mouse hepatic tissue. The results support the reliability of the human hepatic in vitro model as an alternative to animal models only to study the periodicity of function of the molecular clockwork, but not to evaluate the dynamics of clock gene expression.

Daily rotation of the Earth on its axis and yearly revolution around the Sun impose to living organisms adaptation to nyctohemeral and seasonal periodicity. Terrestrial life forms have developed endogenous molecular circadian clocks to synchronize their behavioral, biological, and metabolic rhythms to environmental cues, with the aim to perform at their best over a 24-h span. The coordinated circadian regulation of sleep/wake, rest/activity, fasting/feeding, and catabolic/anabolic cycles is crucial for optimal health. Circadian rhythms in gene expression synchronize biochemical processes and metabolic fluxes with the external environment, allowing the organism to function effectively in response to predictable physiological challenges. In mammals, this daily timekeeping is driven by the biological clocks of the circadian timing system, composed of master molecular oscillators within the suprachiasmatic nuclei of the hypothalamus, pacing self-sustained and cell-autonomous molecular oscillators in peripheral tissues through neural and humoral signals. Nutritional status is sensed by nuclear receptors and coreceptors, transcriptional regulatory proteins, and protein kinases, which synchronize metabolic gene expression and epigenetic modification, as well as energy production and expenditure, with behavioral and light-dark alternance. Physiological rhythmicity characterizes these biological processes and body functions, and multiple rhythms coexist presenting different phases, which may determine different ways of coordination among the circadian patterns, at both the cellular and whole-body levels. A complete loss of rhythmicity or a change of phase may alter the physiological array of rhythms, with the onset of chronodisruption or internal desynchronization, leading to metabolic derangement and disease, i.e., chronopathology.

The rhythmic recurrence of biological processes is driven by the functioning of cellular circadian clocks, operated by a set of genes and proteins that generate self-sustaining transcriptional-translational feedback loops with a free-running period of about 24 h. In the gastrointestinal apparatus, the functioning of the biological clocks shows distinct patterns in the different organs. The aim of this study was to evaluate the time-related variation of clock gene expression in mouse liver and stomach, two components of the digestive system sharing vascular and autonomic supply, but performing completely different functions. The authors analyzed the periodicity by cosinor analysis and the dynamics of variation by computing the fractional variation to assess the rate of change in gene expression. Five-week-old male Balb/c mice were exposed to 2 wks of 12-h light/12-h dark cycles, then kept in complete darkness for 3 d as a continuation of the dark span of the last light-dark cycle. The authors evaluated the expression of Bmal1, Clock, Cry1, Cry2, Per1, Per2, Per3, Rev-erbα, Rev-erbβ, Npas2, Timeless, Dbp, Csnk1d, and Csnk1e by using real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in mouse liver and stomach. A significant 24-h rhythmic component was found for 10 genes in the liver (Bmal1, Clock, Cry1, Per1, Per2, Per3, Rev-erbα, Rev-erbβ, Npas2, and Dbp), and for 9 genes in the stomach (Bmal1, Cry1, Per1, Per2, Per3, Rev-erbα, Rev-erbβ, Npas2, and Dbp). In particular, Clock showed marked rhythm differences between liver and stomach, putatively due to some compensation by Npas2. The acrophase of the original values of Bmal1, Per2, Per3, Rev-erbα, Rev-erbβ, Npas2, and Dbp expression was delayed in the stomach, and the average delay expressed as mean ± SD was 14.30 ± 7.94 degrees (57.20 ± 31.78 minutes). A statistically significant difference was found in the acrophases of Bmal1 (p= .015) and Npas2 (p= .011). Fractional variations provided significant circadian rhythms for nine genes in the liver (Bmal1, Per1, Per2, Per3, Reverbα, Rev-erbβ, Npas2, Timeless, and Dbp), and for seven genes in the stomach (Bmal1, Clock, Per2, Rev-erbα, Npas2, Dbp, and Csnk1e). The acrophase of the fractional variations of Bmal1, Per2, Per3, Rev-erbα, Rev-erbβ, and Dbp expression was delayed in the stomach, and the average delay expressed as mean ± SD was 19.10 ± 9.39 degrees (76.40 ± 37.59 minutes). A significantly greater fractional variation was found in the liver for Clock at 06:00 h (p= .034), Per1 at 02:00 h (p= .037), and Per3 at 02:00 h (p= .029), whereas the fractional variation was greater in the stomach for Clock at 10:00 h (p= .016), and for Npas2 at 02:00 h (p= .029) and at 06:00 h (p= .044). In conclusion, liver and stomach show different phasing and dynamics of clock gene expression, which are probably related to prevailing control by different driving cues, and allow them to keep going the various metabolic pathways and diverse functional processes that they manage. (Author correspondence: g.mazzoccoli@operapadrepio.it)