Long non-coding RNA XIST exerts oncogenic functions in pancreatic cancer via miR-34a-5p

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been implicated in the occurrence and progression of multiple cancers. In the present study, we investigated the role of lncRNA X inactive-specific transcript (XIST) in the development and progression of pancreatic cancer (PC). Firstly, we found that lncRNA XIST was markedly upregulated in PC tissues and PC cell lines, respectively. Overexpression of XIST significantly promoted the proliferation, migration and invasion, and suppressed cell apoptosis of BxPC-3 cells; knockdown of XIST significantly inhibited the proliferation, migration and invasion, and accelerated cell apoptosis of PANC-1 cells. Furthermore, BxPC-3 and PANC-1 cells transfected with different vectors were injected subcutaneously into nude mice to explore tumor formation. We found that XIST promoted tumor formation in vivo. Subsequently, we found that microRNA-34a-5p (miR-34a-5p) was downregulated in PC tissues, and predicted a poor prognosis in PC patients. In addition, the results indicated that miR-34a-5p is a target gene of XIST and was significantly negatively correlated with XIST. More importantly, we found that miR-34a-5p rescued the facilitation of malignant behavior mediated by XIST. These results indicated that XIST and miR-34a-5p may be potential effective therapeutic targets for PC.