Transcriptional regulation of carbonic anhydrase II by retinoic acid in the human pancreatic tumor cell line DANG.

Carbonic anhydrase II (CA II) generates bicarbonate in human pancreatic duct cells. We have developed the human pancreatic duct cell line DANG as a model to study the effects of all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) on CA II gene expression. ATRA treatment resulted in a time- and dose-dependent inhibition of CA II mRNA concentrations in DANG cells. These inhibitory effects were paralleled by a time-dependent decrease of CA II protein concentrations. Nuclear run on analysis revealed that the decrease of CA II mRNA concentrations was due to a decreased rate of CA II gene transcription. These data show that ATRA transcriptionally modulates CA II gene expression in human pancreatic carcinoma cells.