Human pancreatic cancer cell lines (MIAPaCa2, PANC1, BxPC3, KP4, HuPT3, PK1, PA-TU-8988T, TCCPAN2 and AsPC1) were obtained from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC, Rockville, MD). They were maintained in RPMI-1640 (Wako Pure Chemical Industries Co. Ltd., Osaka, Japan) supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS). The BOP-induced hamster pancreatic cancer cell line (HPD1NR) was a kind gift of Dr. Masahiro Tsutsumi. These cells were used in previous studies (5 (link),22 (link)). They were maintained in DMEM (Wako) supplemented with 10% FBS. Cells were cultured at 37°C in 5% CO2 humidified air. Cell authentication (STR profile) of all human cancer cell lines was performed using the GenePrint System (10 loci) by BEX Co. Ltd within six months of use.