Pancreatitis induces AGR2 expression and EGFR translocation to the cell surface.

<p>(A-D) pancreatitis was induced with the 1-day protocol of 8 hourly caerulein injections in 6–8 week old wild-type (wt) and 3-week old AGR2^-/- (ko) mice. (A) total EGFR (green) subcellular localization with and without caerulein-induced pancreatitis as determined by immunohistochemistry and confocal imaging. The nuclei were identified with DAPI stain (blue). Scale bars = 50 μm. (A-B) calreticulin and E-cadherin served as markers for the endoplasmic reticulum and plasma membrane, respectively, and were used to quantify EGFR subcellular location. (B) Columns for wild-type (wt) represent the mean of 10 animals that each contributed 10 images. For the AGR2-ko, 3 animals were studied. Error bars represent the standard error of the mean. (C) AGR2 and EGFR RNA were determined by RT-qPCR. Values were normalized relative to wild-type mice injected with saline. The error bars represent 1 standard deviation. (D) protein immunoblots of pancreatic homogenates for total EGFR, phosphorylated EGFR, AGR2, and ß-actin as a loading control. wt = wild-type; sal = saline control; cae = caerulein; ko = AGR2^-/- <i>null</i>; NS = not statistically significant; **** = p-value < .00001.