Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Nov 14, 2019; 25(42): 6311-6321
Published online Nov 14, 2019. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v25.i42.6311
MicroRNA-30c inhibits pancreatic cancer cell proliferation by targeting twinfilin 1 and indicates a poor prognosis
Lu-Lu Sun, Ming Cheng, Xiao-Dong Xu
Lu-Lu Sun, Department of Ultrasonography, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450000, Henan Province, China
Ming Cheng, Department of Information, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450000, Henan Province, China
Xiao-Dong Xu, Department of Breast Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450000, Henan Province, China
Author contributions: Sun LL and Xu XD designed the research and critically revised the manuscript for important intellectual content; Cheng M helped with the statistical analysis; all authors read and approved the final manuscript paper.
Supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China, No. 61802350.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Zhengzhou University.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: All procedures involving animals were reviewed and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Zhengzhou University.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare no competing financial interests.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The manuscript was prepared and revised according to the ARRIVE guidelines.
Open-Access: This is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xiao-Dong Xu, PhD, Professor, Department of Breast Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, No. 1, Jianshe East Road, Zhengzhou 450000, Henan Province, China. tjxuxiaodong@163.com
Telephone: +86-371-66279162 Fax: +86-371-66279162
Received: August 19, 2019
Peer-review started: August 19, 2019
First decision: September 10, 2019
Revised: October 16, 2019
Accepted: November 1, 2019
Article in press: November 1, 2019
Published online: November 14, 2019
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Studies have reported that microRNA-30c (miR-30c) has vital functions in the development and progression of multiple cancers.

AIM

To investigate the clinical significance and role of miR-30c in pancreatic cancer.

METHODS

MiR-30c and twinfilin 1 (TWF1) expression levels were analyzed in Gene Expression Omnibus datasets and validated in human pancreatic cancer by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). The effects of miR-30c on pancreatic cancer cell growth, apoptosis, and cell cycle were evaluated by CCK-8 and flow cytometry assays. Furthermore, the in vivo effects were investigated using a subcutaneous xenograft experiment. Target gene prediction software and luciferase reporter assays were used to identify TWF1 as a direct target of miR-30c.

RESULTS

The expression of miR-30c was significantly decreased in pancreatic cancer tissues and associated with survival. Gain- and loss-of-function assays showed that miR-30c suppressed pancreatic cancer cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo. RT-qPCR, Western blot, and luciferase reporter assays showed that miR-30c directly targeted TWF1. The expression level of miR-30c was negatively correlated with TWF1 expression in pancreatic cancer tissues. Furthermore, the effects of ectopic miR-30c were rescued by TWF1 overexpression.

CONCLUSION

Our results identified the role of the miR-30c/TWF1 axis in pancreatic cancer progression and demonstrated that miR-30c might serve as a prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for pancreatic cancer.

Keywords: Pancreatic cancer, MicroRNA-30c, Proliferation, Twinfilin 1

Core tip: Studies have shown that miR-30c exerts vital roles in the oncogenesis of various cancers. However, its expression and role in pancreatic cancer remain unknown. In this study, the expression levels of miR-30c and twinfilin 1 were mined in Gene Expression Omnibus datasets and detected in clinical samples. The relationship of miR-30c expression with clinicopathological factors of pancreatic cancer patients was analyzed. The effect of miR-30c on pancreatic cancer cell proliferation and the underlying regulatory mechanism were investigated. Our study suggested that miR-30c may serve as a prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for pancreatic cancer.