miR-27a regulates the growth, colony formation and migration of pancreatic cancer cells by targeting Sprouty2

MicroRNAs are short regulatory RNAs A growing body of data implicates altered miRNA participate in the development of cancers and miR-27a is abnormally upregulated in several types of cancers identified as an oncogene Although overexpressed in pancreatic adenocarcinoma the oncogenic role of miR-27a has not yet been reported In this study we showed that inhibition of miR-27a suppressed the growth colony formation and migration of pancreatic cancer cells By using a reporter-screening assay we discovered that the 3'UTR of Sprouty2 (Spty2) carried a putative miR-27a binding site Furthermore the Spry2 protein which has a low expression level in pancreatic adenocarcinoma was upregulated by transfection with a miR-27a inhibitor The data reported here are the first to indicate that miR-27a plays an oncogenic role by targeting Spry2 and modulating the malignant biological behavior of pancreatic cancer cells This suggests the potential for miR-27a to be used as a target in the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic adenocarcinoma (C) 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd All rights reserved