The aim of this study was to explore the regulation of Bcl-2 expression by miR-21 and its impact on apoptosis, chemoresistance and growth of pancreatic cancer cells using a pancreatic cancer cell line, MIA PaCa-2.
Along with higher expression of miR-21 which has been shown to be highly expressed in IDA, reduced expression of miR-126 in IDA and pancreatic cancer cell line was detected.
Furthermore, lower Ang-1 and Tie-2 transcript levels and higher increases of miR-21-5p, miR27a-3p and miR-181a-5p levels were found in the rarest form of pancreatic carcinoma.
One hundred microRNA precursors were aberrantly expressed in pancreatic cancer or desmoplasia (p < 0.01), including microRNAs previously reported as differentially expressed in other human cancers (miR-155, miR-21, miR-221 and miR-222) as well as those not previously reported in cancer (miR-376a and miR-301).
The aims of this study were to explore regulation of miR-21 expression by epigenetic change and its impact on chemoresistance and malignant properties of of pancreatic cancer.
Simulations of the model show how the size of the pancreatic cancer can be determined by measurement of specific miRs (miR-21 and miR-203 in the case of pancreatic cancer), suggesting these miRs as biomarkers for cancer.
The LNA-ISH analysis of miR-21 may serve as a significant predictor for gemcitabine resistance in patients with pancreatic cancer undergoing adjuvant gemcitabine after curative resection.
At last, we have also explained the role of miRNAs in diagnostic marker (miR- 200, miR-21, miR-103, miR-107, and miR-155) and as a therapeutic modulator (miR-34, miR-21, miR-221, and miR-101) in pancreatic cancer.
We demonstrate that antisense to miR-21 and miR-221 results in significant cell killing under various conditions and that antisense oligonucleotides targeted to miRNA represents a potential new therapy for pancreatic cancer.
With multivariable logistic regression, we established two specific indexes for diagnosis of PC(Index1 contains miR-21, MIC-1 and CA19-9; Index2 contains miR-25, MIC-1 and CA19-9).
MicroRNA-21 may be a useful prognostic biomarker, allowing stratification for chemotherapy administration, and being a component of precision medicine in patients with pancreatic cancer.
Thousands of miRNAs have been screened in PC and several of them, such as miR-21, 155, and 196a, show up- or down-regulation that is associated with progression of the disease.
These findings further indicate that the inhibition of miR-21 and miR-221 appear particularly suitable to target stem-like subpopulations and address their specific biological function to promote tumor progression in pancreatic cancer.