Background: Although genistein has been reported to exert its anti-tumor activity, the exact mechanism of its action is poorly elucidated. Recently, it has been found that genistein could regulate the expression of microRNAs. Therefore, our aim in the present study was to find whether genistein regulates specific miR-27a in pancreatic cancer cells.
Methods: We performed our studies using multiple methods including MTT assay, RT-PCR, Western blotting analysis, migration, invasion assay, and transfection.
Results: We observed that genistein significantly inhibited the expression of miR-27a in pancreatic cancer cells. Moreover, inhibition of miR-27a suppressed cell growth and induced apoptosis as well as inhibited invasion in pancreatic cancer cells. Furthermore, we found a synergy effect between miR-27a and genistein on cell growth inhibition, apoptosis, and invasion, suggesting that targeting miR-27a may represent a potential strategy for treatment of pancreatic cancer.
Conclusions: Our findings demonstrated that genistein plays a tumor suppressor role in part through inhibition of miR-27a in pancreatic cancer cells.