LncRNA PVT1 triggers Cyto-protective autophagy and promotes pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma development via the miR-20a-5p/ULK1 Axis
Authors: Yanyan Zhuang
Juanfei Peng
Chunkui Shao
Shineng Zhang
Wenying Chen
Wanling Yang
Yuanhua Li
Fengting Huang
Zhe Zhu
Herui Yao
Journal: Molecular Cancer (2018)
Discipline: MOLECULAR BIOLOGY & GENETICS
Keywords: Autophagy; Long non-coding RNA; PVT1; Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma; ULK1
Affiliations: Department of Gastroenterology and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Malignant Tumor Epigenetics and Gene Regulation, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, No. 107 Yanjiang West Road, Guangzhou, 510120, China., Department of Gastroenterology, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510120, China., Department of Medicine, Division of Regenerative Medicine, University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA., Department of Pathology, The Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510630, China., Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Centre for Genomic Sciences, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong., Department of Medical Oncology, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, No. 107 Yanjiang West Road, Guangzhou, 510120, China. ., Department of Gastroenterology and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Malignant Tumor Epigenetics and Gene Regulation, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, No. 107 Yanjiang West Road, Guangzhou, 510120, China. .

Abstract:  Background: Defective autophagy is thought to contribute to the pathogenesis of many diseases, including cancer. Human plasmacytoma variant translocation 1 (PVT1) is an oncogenic long non-coding RNA that has been identified as a prognostic biomarker in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, but how PVT1 operates in the regulation of autophagy in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) is unclear. Methods: PVT1 expression level was detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and hybridization in situ (ISH). Western blot or qRT-PCR was performed to assess the ULK1 protein or mRNA level. Autophagy was explored via autophagic flux detection under a confocal microscope and autophagic vacuoles investigation under a transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The biological role of PVT1 in autophagy and PDA development was determined by gain-of-function and loss-of-function assays. Results: We found that PVT1 levels paralleled those of ULK1 protein in PDA cancer tissues. PVT1 promoted cyto-protective autophagy and cell growth by targeting ULK1 both in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, high PVT1 expression was associated with poor prognosis. Furthermore, we found that PVT1 acted as sponge to regulate miR-20a-5p and thus affected ULK1 expression and the development of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Conclusions: The present study demonstrates that the "PVT1/miR-20a-5p/ULK1/autophagy" pathway modulates the development of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and may be a novel target for developing therapeutic strategies for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 Retracted [June 2013] . Obviously old news, almost pre-dating PubPeer and not previously flagged here. H t [RetractionWatch] . ----------------------------------------------------------- This article has been retracted at the request of the Editor-in-Chief. Due to highly unethical practices, which include serial self plagiarism, data manipulation and falsification of results found across multiple papers in Acta Biomaterialia. One of the conditions of submission of a paper for publication is that authors declare explicitly that their work is original and has not appeared in a publication elsewhere. Re-use of any data should be appropriately cited. As such this article represents a severe abuse of the scientific publishing system. The scientific community takes a very strong view on this matter and apologies are offered to readers of the journal that this was not detected during the submission process. ------------------------------------------------------------------- I take the liberty of copying some documentation from [an anonymous blogpost](http: sk-sahoo.blogspot.com 2013 05 acta-biomater-2012-jul872670-87.html):   ,