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Updated: Feb 9, 2026

Oncogene Expression Analysis with Alterations in pH in a Pancreatic Ductal Cell Line
Published on: April 11, 2025
miR-331-3p functions as an oncogene by targeting ST7L in pancreatic cancer
Xiaoli Chen1,2,3, Hesheng Luo2, Xiaoyi Li4
1Department of Gastroenterology, Wuhan Third Hospital, Tongren Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
Abstract:
Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a highly invasive tumor with early metastasis and poor prognosis, yet the mechanisms for tumor progression have not been fully elucidated. Emerging evidence indicates that microRNA-331-3p (miR-331-3p) plays an important role in the progression of diverse human cancers. Here, we found that miR-331-3p was significantly upregulated in tumor specimens of PC patients and PC cell lines. Functional studies showed that downregulation of miR-331-3p inhibited PC cell proliferation and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-mediated metastasis in vitro. Furthermore, suppression of tumorigenicity 7 like (ST7L) was identified as a novel target gene of miR-331-3p. Tumor promotion effects of miR-331-3p were partially reversed by ST7L re-expression. In addition, miR-331-3p antagomir suppressed PC tumor growth and metastasis via upregulation of ST7L in xenograft mice. In summary, these results demonstrate that miR-331-3p is a tumor-promoting microRNA (miRNA) in PC cells and a promising biomarker for PC.
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