Because pancreatic cancer (PC) historically has had poor prognosis and five year survival rates, it has been intensely investigated. Analysis of PC incidence and biology has shown a link between different risk factors such as smoking, alcoholism, and obesity and disease progression. Important factors affecting PC include the epigenomic changes driven by DNA methylation and histone acetylation, and actions of microRNA inducing oncogenic or tumor suppressor effects. Studies have identified markers whose dysregulation seem to play important roles in PC progression. PC markers involve classical histone deacetylases (HDAC), PC stem cell (PCSC), and leptin. In this review, we discuss the role of several PC biomarkers, and the potential crosstalk between HDAC, microRNA, and leptin in PC progression. Dysregulated expression of these molecules can increase proliferation, survival, PCSC, resistance to chemotherapy and tumor angiogenesis. The potential relationships between these molecules are further analyzed using data from The Cancer Genome Atlas and crosstalk pathways generated by the Pathway Studio Platform (Ariadne Genomics, Inc.). Oncogenic miRNA21 and tumor suppressor miRNA200 have been previously linked to leptin signaling. Preliminary analysis of PC biopsies and signaling crosstalk suggests that the main adipokine leptin could affect the expression of microRNA and HDAC in PC. Data analysis suggests that HDAC-microRNA-leptin signaling crosstalk may be a new target for PC therapy.
Keywords: Histone deacetylases; Leptin; MicroRNA; Obesity; Pancreatic Cancer; Pancreatic cancer stem cell markers.