LncRNA CASC19 contributed to the progression of pancreatic cancer through modulating miR-148b/E2F7 axis

Cancer susceptibility 19 (CASC19), a crucial lncRNA associated with multiple cancers, has been reported to play a vital role in the progression of human malignant tumors. However, the underlying mechanism of CASC19 in pancreatic cancer (PC) was still unknown. The purpose of this study was to explore the biological and clinical significance of CASC19 in PC.

RT-qPCR assay was adopted to analyze CASC19 expression in PC tissues and cell lines. Furthermore, the correlation between the CASC19 level and the survival rate of PC patients was assessed by Kaplan-Meier analysis. Bioinformatics analysis and Luciferase reporter assay were utilized to confirm the interaction between miR-148b and CASC19 or E2F7. Cell viability, migration, invasion, and apoptosis were analyzed using MTT, transwell, and TUNEL assays.

The results elucidated that CASC19 expression was markedly increased in PC tissues and cell lines. Patients with high expression of CASC19 had a short survival time. Silencing of CASC19 attenuated PC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Moreover, we identified that miR-148b was a target of CASC19. CASC19 was negatively correlated with miR-148b and positively correlated with E2F7. The inhibitory effect of CASC19 knockdown on the progression of PC was reversed by the down-regulation of miR-148b or up-regulation of E2F7.

These results demonstrated that CASC19 participated in the development of PC. The CASC19/miR-148b/E2F7 axis might be a new study direction for PC treatment.