MiR-216a-5p has opposite effects on tumorigenesis and progression in the context of different tumors, acting as either a tumor suppressor or an oncogene. However, the expression and function of miR-216a-5p in pancreatic cancer (PC) is not well characterized. In this study, we found miR-216a-5p was significantly downregulated in PC tissues and cell lines, which showed a negative correlation with peripancreatic lymph, perineural invasion and TNM stage of PCs patients. We made use of functional assays to reveal that miR-216a-5p inhibited growth and migration of PC cells in vitro and in vivo. Then, by employing the bioinformatics analysis and luciferase reporter assay, we demonstrated TPT1 was a potential target of miR-216a-5p, which contributes to tumor malignance by mediating mTORC1 pathway-associated autophagy. Furthermore, bioinformatics analysis and RNA pulldown confirmed that miR-216a-5p was mediated by LINC01133, which sponge miR-216a-5p, as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA). Collectively, our study revealed an important role of LINC01133/miR-216a-5p/TPT1 axis in the genesis and progression of PCs, which provides potential biomarkers for clinical diagnosis and therapy of PCs.
Keywords: LINC01133; TPT1; miR-216a-5p; pancreatic cancer; tumor progression.
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