Functional study of miRNA-301a-3p in pancreatic cancer

Abstract

Objective To investigate the expression of miRNA-301a-3p in pancreatic cancer and to correlate the expression on invasion, migration and colony formation of pancreatic cancer cells. Methods The expression of miRNA-301a-3p in 20 paired pancreatic cancer tissues and matched adjacent tissues, and pancreatic cancer cell lines and normal pancreatic ductal cells were detected by real-time PCR. miRNA-301a-3p mimics or inhibitors were used to up-regulate or down-regulate the miRNA-301a-3p level in pancreatic cancer cell lines in order to figure out the effects of miRNA-301a-3p on cell invasion, migration and colony formation of pancreatic cancer cells, respectively. Results In pancreatic cancer tissues and cell lines, miRNA-301a-3p was significantly up-regulated when compared with the matched adjacent tissues (P<0.05) and normal pancreatic ductal cells (P<0.05), respectively. Overexpression or downexpression of miRNA-301a-3p enhanced or suppressed colony formation, invasion and migration abilities of pancreatic cancer cells in vitro. Upregulation of miRNA-301a-3p promoted tumorigenesis in vivo. Conclusion miRNA-301a-3p might function as an oncogene to promote tumorigenesis in pancreatic cancer. Key words: miRNA; Pancreatic cancer; Oncogene