DSCR9/miR-21-5p axis inhibits pancreatic cancer proliferation and resistance to gemcitabine via BTG2 signaling.

The outcome of pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAAD) patients is poor, given resistance to gemcitabine. Long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) has been implicated in the carcinogenesis of pancreatic cancer; however, its function and mechanism in PAAD resistance to gemcitabine (GEM) are yet unknown. Herein, we demonstrate that lncRNA DSCR9 is significantly reduced in PAAD in vitro and in vivo. CCK-8, BrdU and flow cytometry assays show that overexpression of DSCR9 markedly suppresses pancreatic cancer cell proliferation and invasion, and promotes apoptosis under gemcitabine treatment. BTG2 acts as a tumor suppressor by reducing the proliferation and invasion of pancreatic cancer cells and increasing gemcitabine-induced apoptosis. Immunofluorescence (IF) staining combined with fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) of pancreatic cancer tissues shows that DSCR9 and BTG2 are both increased in pancreatic cancer tissues. Luciferase assay shows that miR-21-5p simultaneously binds to DSCR9 and 3'UTR of BTG2; DSCR9 relieves miR-21-5p-induced inhibition of BTG2 by competing with BTG2 for miR-21-5p binding. Overexpression of miR-21-5p enhances the invasiveness of pancreatic cancer cells by promoting cancer cell proliferation and invasion and attenuating gemcitabine-induced apoptosis. Overexpression of miR-21-5p attenuates the effect of DSCR9 overexpression on BTG2 expression and invasiveness of pancreatic cancer cells. Finally, miR-21-5p expression is increased, while BTG2 expression is decreased in pancreatic cancer tissues. miR-21-5p is negatively correlated with DSCR9 and BTG2. In conclusion, the DSCR9/miR-21-5p/BTG2 axis modulates pancreatic cancer proliferation, invasion, and gemcitabine resistance.