Abstract
Gemcitabine serves as a first-line chemotherapy agent for advanced pancreatic cancer (PC). However, the molecular basis by which gemcitabine exerts its effects is not well-established, and the targeted genetic pathways remain unclear. Pvt1 oncogene (non-protein coding) (PVT1) has been reported to be an oncogenic long non-coding RNA in tumorigenesis. In the present study, we show that the expression of PVT1 is correlated with gemcitabine efficacy in PC therapy. Inhibition of PVT1 led to decreased cell growth in PC cells treated with gemcitabine. We also demonstrate that gemcitabine treatment decreases PVT1 levels and increases its encoded miRNAs, such as the miR-1207 pair (miR-1207-5p/3p). Overexpression of the miR-1207 pair enhanced the chemosensitivity of cells to gemcitabine, whereas silencing of miR-1207-5p/3p to prevent its induction by gemcitabine treatment led to increased cell growth. Mechanistic studies revealed that miR-1207-5p and miR-1207-3p target the SRC proto-oncogene (non-receptor tyrosine kinase) and ras homolog family member A in PC cells, respectively. In particular, we observed that gemcitabine induced Drosha ribonuclease III (Drosha) and DGCR8 microprocessor complex subunit (DGCR8) upregulation and then triggered PVT1 processing. Suppression of Drosha and DGCR8 contributed to a dampened efficacy of gemcitabine, indicating that gemcitabine decreased PVT1 expression by promoting its processing into miRNAs, which in turn resulted in blunted oncogenic signaling in PC cells. Moreover, we demonstrate that gemcitabine chemoresistance was a result of decreased expression of Drosha and DGCR8 in AsPC-1 cells and tumor cell-engrafted models. Overall, our findings define a novel mechanism for understanding the efficacy of gemcitabine chemotherapy in PC.