title: miR-367 promotes epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and invasion of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cells by targeting the Smad7-TGF-β signalling pathway.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Aberrant Smad7 expression contributes to the invasion and metastasis of pancreatic cancer cells. However, the potential mechanism underlying aberrant Smad7 expression in human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains largely unknown.
  
  
  METHODS
  Bioinformatic prediction programmes and luciferase reporter assay were used to identify microRNAs regulating Smad7. The association between miR-367 expression and the overall survival of PDAC patients was evaluated by Kaplan-Meier analysis. The effects of miR-367 and Smad7 on the invasion and metastasis of pancreatic cancer cells were investigated both in vitro and in vivo.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that miR-367 downregulated Smad7 expression by directly targeting its 3'-UTR in human pancreatic cancer cells. High level of miR-367 expression correlated with poor prognosis of PDAC patients. Functional studies showed that miR-367 promoted pancreatic cancer invasion in vitro and metastasis in vivo through downregulating Smad7. In addition, we showed that miR-367 promoted epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition by increasing transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β)-induced transcriptional activity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study identified and characterised a signalling pathway, the miR-367/Smad7-TGF-β pathway, which is involved in the invasion and metastasis of pancreatic cancer cells. Our results suggest that miR-367 may be a promising therapeutic target for the treatment of human pancreatic cancer.
authors: 1] Department of Radiation Oncology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, 270 Dong An Road, Shanghai 200032, China [2] Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, 130 Dong An Road, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors: Z
authors: Z
authors: Zhu
authors: 1] Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, 130 Dong An Road, Shanghai 200032, China [2] Department of Pancreatic and Hepatobiliary Surgery, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, 270 Dong An Road, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors: Y
authors: Y
authors: Xu
authors: 1] Department of Radiation Oncology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, 270 Dong An Road, Shanghai 200032, China [2] Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, 130 Dong An Road, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Zhao
authors: 1] Department of Radiation Oncology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, 270 Dong An Road, Shanghai 200032, China [2] Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, 130 Dong An Road, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors: Q
authors: Q
authors: Liu
authors: 1] Department of Radiation Oncology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, 270 Dong An Road, Shanghai 200032, China [2] Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, 130 Dong An Road, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors: W
authors: W
authors: Feng
authors: Department of Pathology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, 12 Central Wulumuqi Road, Shanghai 200040, China.
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Fan
authors: 1] Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, 130 Dong An Road, Shanghai 200032, China [2] Department of Integrative Oncology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, 270 Dong An Road, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Wang
mesh_terms: D020413:3' Untranslated Regions; D000818:Animals; D021441:Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods; D004285:Dogs; D058750:Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009368:Neoplasm Transplantation; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D011379:Prognosis; D015398:Signal Transduction; D051906:Smad7 Protein / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D020413:3' Untranslated Regions; C568081:MIRN367 microRNA, human; C000598715:MIRN367 microRNA, mouse; D035683:MicroRNAs; D051906:Smad7 Protein; C497807:Smad7 protein, mouse