MicroRNA-18a induces epithelial-mesenchymal transition like cancer stem cell phenotype via regulating RKIP pathway in pancreatic cancer.

BACKGROUND

Pancreatic cancer is a devastating invasive disease. Understanding the molecular mechanism of metastasis of this cancer is basis for its treatment and prevention.

METHODS

Pancreatic cancer tissues and normal adjacent tissues were collected from patients tour hospital. Western blotting and a sphere growth and invasion assay were performed to conduct analysis. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cell Line PANC-1 were cultured. To test the level of Raf-1 kinase inhibitor protein (RKIP), immunofluorescence analyses were performed.

RESULTS

In this study, we showed that expression of RKIP was downregulated in pancreatic cancer. RKIP can inhibit epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) in PANC-1 cells. MicroRNA-181a (miR-181a) has a high expression in pancreatic cancer and can induce EMT phenotype by directly degrading RKIP in pancreatic cancer PANC-1 cells.

CONCLUSIONS

We concluded that miR-181a induces EMT phenotype through its regulation of RKIP in pancreatic cancer. MicroRNA-18a may be a novel target in the treatment of pancreatic cancer in future.