Novel therapeutic targets for pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer has become the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the last two decades. Only 3%-15% of patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer had 5 year survival rate. Drug resistance, high metastasis, poor prognosis and tumour relapse contributed to the malignancies and difficulties in treating pancreatic cancer. The current standard chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer is gemcitabine, however its efficacy is far from satisfactory, one of the reasons is due to the complex tumour microenvironment which decreases effective drug delivery to target cancer cell. Studies of the molecular pathology of pancreatic cancer have revealed that activation of KRAS, overexpression of cyclooxygenase-2, inactivation of p16INK4A and loss of p53 activities occurred in pancreatic cancer. Co-administration of gemcitabine and targeting the molecular pathological events happened in pancreatic cancer has brought an enhanced therapeutic effectiveness of gemcitabine. Therefore, studies looking for novel targets in hindering pancreatic tumour growth are emerging rapidly. In order to give a better understanding of the current findings and to seek the direction in future pancreatic cancer research; in this review we will focus on targets suppressing tumour metastatsis and progression, KRAS activated downstream effectors, the relationship of Notch signaling and Nodal/Activin signaling with pancreatic cancer cells, the current findings of non-coding RNAs in inhibiting pancreatic cancer cell proliferation, brief discussion in transcription remodeling by epigenetic modifiers (e.g., HDAC, BMI1, EZH2) and the plausible therapeutic applications of cancer stem cell and hyaluronan in tumour environment.

MiR-430 Can Affect the Mesoderm Formation and Metamorphosis of Paralichthys olivaceus by Targeting lefty Gene

MiR-430 is a non-coding small RNA that participates in early embryonic development by acting on the Nodal signaling pathway.Its functions in Paralichthys olivaceus(P.olivaceus),however,remain unclear.In this study,through biological information technology,we hypothesized lefty was the target gene of miR-430.Lefty is a divergent member of the transforming growth factor-β(TGF-β)superfamily,and is involved in regulating left-right patterning as an antagonist of the Nodal signaling pathway.To study the relationship between miR-430 and lefty gene,miR-430 and fluorescent expression vector were transfected into embryo cells.Our results showed that miR-430 has important effects on early embryonic development.It can inhibit the expressions of lefty and other genes related to Nodal signaling pathway.Additionally,the expression of miR-430 was involved in the metamorphosis of P.olivaceus.This study clarifies the function of miR-430 in P.olivaceus,which will be helpful for further research on the interactions between miR-430 and the Nodal signaling pathway.