MicroRNA-21 modulates biological functions of pancreatic cancer cells including their proliferation, invasion, and chemoresistance

Due to the poor prognosis of pancreatic cancer, novel diagnostic modalities for early diagnosis and new therapeutic strategy are urgently needed. Recently, microRNA-21 (miR-21) was reported to be strongly overexpressed in pancreatic cancer as well as in other solid cancers. We investigated the functional roles of miR-21, which have not been fully elucidated in pancreatic cancer. miR-21 expression was assessed in pancreatic cancer cell lines (14 cancer cell lines, primary cultures of normal pancreatic epithelial cells and fibroblasts, and a human normal pancreatic ductal epithelial cell line) and pancreatic tissue samples (25 cancer tissues and 25 normal tissues) by quantitative real-time reverse transcription-PCR amplification. Moreover, we investigated the proliferation, invasion, and chemoresistance of pancreatic cancer cells transfected with miR-21 precursor or inhibitor. miR-21 was markedly overexpressed in pancreatic cancer cells compared with nonmalignant cells, and miR-21 in cancer tissues was much higher than in nonmalignant tissues. The cancer cells transfected with the miR-21 precursor showed significantly increased proliferation, Matrigel invasion, and chemoresistance for gemcitabine compared with the control cells. In contrast, inhibition of miR-21 decreased proliferation, Matrigel invasion, and chemoresistance for gemcitabine. Moreover, miR-21 positively correlated with the mRNA expression of invasion-related genes, matrix metalloproteinase-2 and -9, and vascular endothelial growth factor. These data suggest that miR-21 expression is increased in pancreatic cancer cells and that miR-21 contributes to the cell proliferation, invasion, and chemoresistance of pancreatic cancer.