MicroRNA-374a promotes pancreatic cancer cell proliferation and epithelial to mesenchymal transition by targeting SRCIN1

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play a vital role in the progress of cancer. Whereas the expression and function of miR-374a in pancreatic cancer remain largely unknown. In this study, pancreatic cancer samples and its adjacent normal tissues were obtained from 30 clinical patients with pancreatic cancer. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRTPCR) was used to measure miR-374a and SRC Kinase Signaling Inhibitor 1 (SRCINI) expression. Western blotting assay was performed to measure the levels of SRCIN1, E-cadherin, N-cadherin, Vimentin, Zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) and beta-catenin in PANC-1 cells. Luciferase reporter assay was conducted to confirm the direct targeting of SRCIN1 by miR-374a. Cell proliferation and migration assays were utilized to analyze the role of miR-374a in PANC-1 cells. We found that miR-374a expression was upregulated in pancreatic cancer tissues and cell lines. Over-expression of miR-374a promoted cell proliferation, migration and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in pancreatic cancer. While, SRCIN1 expression was downregulated in pancreatic cancer tissues and cells. SRCIN1 was found to be a potential targets of miR-374a by dual-luciferase reporter assay. And SRCIN1 was down-regulated after miR-374a transfection. More than that, over-expression of SRCIN1 inhibited cell proliferation, migration and EMT in pancreatic cancer cell. Therefore, this study revealed that miR-374a promoted cell proliferation, migration and EMT via targeting SRCIN1 in pancreatic cancer.