Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research (Feb 2019)

Cross-talk among AFAP1-AS1, ACVR1 and microRNA-384 regulates the stemness of pancreatic cancer cells and tumorigenicity in nude mice

  • Xu-Bo Wu,
  • Xia Feng,
  • Qi-Meng Chang,
  • Cheng-Wu Zhang,
  • Zhi-Fei Wang,
  • Jie Liu,
  • Zhi-Qiu Hu,
  • Jia-Zhe Liu,
  • Wei-Ding Wu,
  • Zi-Ping Zhang,
  • Xi-Qiang Liu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13046-019-1051-0
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 38, no. 1
pp. 1 – 15

Abstract

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Abstract Background Pancreatic cancer (PC) represents one of the most aggressive forms of cancer. The role of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) has been highlighted in various malignancies including PC. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects associated with actin filament-associated protein 1 antisense RNA 1 (AFAP1-AS1) on the progression of PC and the underlying mechanism. Methods Microarray-based gene expression profiling of PC was performed to identify PC-related lncRNAs, after which the expression of AFAP1-AS1 and cancer stem cell (CSC) markers in PC tissues and cells were determined accordingly. The potential microRNA-384 (miR-384) capable of binding to AFAP1-AS1, in addition to its ability to regulate activin receptor A type I (ACVR1) were analyzed. In order to investigate the effect of the AFAP1-AS1/miR-384/ACVR1 axis on self-renewal ability, tumorigenicity, invasion, migration and stemness of PC cells, shRNA-AFAP1-AS1, miR-384 mimic and inhibitor were cloned into cells. Results High expression of AFAP1-AS1 and ACVR1 with low expression of miR-384 were detected in PC tissues. ACVR1 was determined to be down-regulated when miR-384 was overexpressed, while the inhibition of AFAP1-AS1 decreased its ability to binding competitively to miR-384, resulting in the down-regulation of ACVR1 and enhancing miR-384 expression, ultimately inhibiting the progression of PC. The knockdown of AFAP1-AS1 or overexpression of miR-384 was confirmed to impair PC cell self-renewal ability, tumorigenicity, invasion, migration and stemness. Conclusions Taken together, AFAP1-AS1 functions as an endogenous RNA by competitively binding to miR-384 to regulate ACVR1, thus conferring inhibitory effects on PC cell stemness and tumorigenicity.

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