miR-33a-3p regulates METTL3-mediated AREG stability and alters EMT to inhibit pancreatic cancer invasion and metastasis

Recent studies have shown that amphoteric regulatory protein (AREG), a member of the epidermal growth factor (EGF) family, is expressed in many cancers and is an independent prognostic indicator for patients with pancreatic cancer, but whether AREG is regulated at the epigenetic level to promote the development of pancreatic cancer (PC) has not been elucidated. Our results support the notion that AREG is overexpressed in pancreatic cancer tissues and cell lines. Functionally, the deletion of AREG impedes pancreatic cancer (PC) cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. In addition, we identified and validated that methyltransferase-like 3 (METTL3) induced the m(6)A modification on AREG and facilitated the stability of AREG mRNA after sequencing. Additionally, we obtained experimental evidence that miR-33a-3p targets and inhibits METTL3 from taking action, as predicted by using the miRDB and RNAinter. Remediation experiments showed that miR-33a-3p inhibits PC progression through METTL3. In summary, this research reveals that miR-33a-3p inhibits m(6)A-induced stabilization of AREG by targeting METTL3, which plays a key role in the aggressive progression of PC. AREG could be a potential target for PC treatment.