title: microRNA-137 modulates pancreatic cancer cells tumor growth, invasion and sensitivity to chemotherapy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  We intended to investigate the role of microRNA 137 (miR-137) in regulating pancreatic cancer cells' growth in vitro and tumor development in vivo.
  
  
  METHODS
  QTR-PCR was used to examine the expression of miR-137 in pancreatic cancer cell lines and tumor cells from human patients. Lentivirual vector containing miR-137 mimic was used to overexpress miR-137 in PANC-1 and MIA PaCa-2 cells. The effects of overexpressing miR-137 on pancreatic cancer cell invasion and chemo-sensitivity to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) were examined by cell migration and survival essays in vitro. The molecular target of miR-137, pleiotropic growth factor (PTN), was down-regulated by siRNA to examine its effects on cancer cell invasion. MIA PaCa-2 cells with endogenously overexpressed miR-137 were transplanted into null mice to examine tumor growth in vivo.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found miR-137 was markedly underexpressed in both pancreatic cancer cell lines and tumor cells from patients. In cancer cells, transfection of lentivirus containing miR-137 mimic was able to markedly upregulate endogenous expression of miR-137, inhibited cancer cell invasion and increased sensitivities to chemotherapy reagent 5-FU. PTN was significantly down-regulated by overexpressing miR-137 in pancreatic cancer cells, and knocking down PTN was effective to rescue the reduced cancer cell invasion ability caused by miR-137 overexpression. More importantly, overexpressing miR-137 led to significant inhibition on tumor formation, including reductions in tumor weight and tumor size in vivo.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study demonstrated that miR-137 played an important role in pancreatic cancer development. It may become a new therapeutic target for gene therapy in patients suffered from pancreatic cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Guiyang Medical College Guiyang 550004, Guizhou Province, China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: Department of Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery, Affiliated Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Hazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan 430074, Hubei Province, China.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Guiyang Medical College Guiyang 550004, Guizhou Province, China.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery, Affiliated Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Hazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan 430074, Hubei Province, China.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery, Affiliated Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Hazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan 430074, Hubei Province, China.
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Guiyang Medical College Guiyang 550004, Guizhou Province, China.
authors.forename: Zhipeng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Guiyang Medical College Guiyang 550004, Guizhou Province, China.
authors.forename: Jianxin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Guiyang Medical College Guiyang 550004, Guizhou Province, China.
authors.forename: Chengyi
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002465:Cell Movement; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; D015536:Down-Regulation; D005260:Female; D005472:Fluorouracil / Q000494:pharmacology; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D014162:Transfection; D047368:Tumor Burden
chemical_list: C545567:MIRN137 microRNA, human; C551799:MIRN137 microRNA, mouse; D035683:MicroRNAs; D005472:Fluorouracil
keywords: PTN; invasion; miR-137; miRNA; pancreatic cancer