Peptides designed from molecular modeling studies of the ras-p21 protein induce phenotypic reversion of a pancreatic carcinoma cell line but have no effect on normal pancreatic acinar cell growth.

Purpose: From molecular modeling studies we found that two ras-p21 peptides, corresponding to p21 residues 35-47 (PNC-7) and 96-110 (PNC-2), selectively block oncogenic (Val 12-p21), but not insulin-activated wild-type, p21-induced oocyte maturation. Our purpose was to determine if these peptides block the growth of mammalian cancer cells but not their normal counterpart cells.

Methods: Since oncogenic ras has been implicated as a causative factor in over 90% of human pancreatic cancers, we have established a normal pancreatic acinar cell line (BMRPA1) and the corresponding ras-transformed pancreatic cancer cell line (TUC-3).