Abstract 464: Novel role of xpo1 in regulating MicroRNAs related to pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma invasion and metastasis
Authors: Azmi Asfar S. , Li Yiwei , Muqbil Irfana , Aboukameel Amro , Senapedis William , Baloglu Erkan , Landesman Yosef , Kauffman Michael , Shacham Sharon , Philip Philip A. , Mohammad Ramzi M. 
Published: July 2017

Objective: There are no known reports on the role of exportin 1 (XPO1; also known as chromosome maintenance region 1 [CRM1]) in microRNA biology. In this study, we for the first time demonstrate that interfering with XPO1 machinery can influence miRNA signaling leading to suppression of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) proliferation, invasion and metastasis.

Methods: miRNA arrays (LCSciences, Houston, TX) were performed on total RNA samples from PDAC cell lines (HPAC, MiaPaCa-2, AsPc-1 and L3.6pl) and normal human pancreatic ductal epithelial (HPDE) cells. PDAC cells were treated with XPO1 inhibitor (Selinexor) or transfected with control siRNA, XPO1 siRNA (Santa Cruz), miR-control or miR-145 mimic (Applied biosystems) all at a final concentration of 20 nM using DharmaFact Transfection Reagent (Dharmacon, Lafayette. CO). The total RNA and total protein from treated or transfected cells were subjected to real-time PCR or immunoblot analysis in order to measure expression level of miR-145, let-7d, miR-34c, miR-320, miR-205, and miR-145 target or downstream genes including EGFR, MMP1, MT-MMP, c-Myc, Sox-2, and PAK4. The impact of XPO1 inhibitor Selinexor on PDAC growth, proliferation, invasion and migrations was also evaluated using MTT and scratch assay.

Results: In this study, we show that PDAC cells have significantly reduced expression of miR-145 when compared to normal pancreatic duct epithelial cells. Similarly, forced expression of miR-145 in PDAC cells inhibited cell proliferation and migration. Conversely, we demonstrate that RNAi of XPO1 by siRNA knockdown or chemical inhibition of XPO1 by selective inhibitor of nuclear export compound (Selinexor) restores miR-145 expression in PDAC cells ultimately leading to inhibition of cell proliferation and migration. In addition, we show that the inhibition of cell proliferation and migration by Selinexor is mediated through the down-regulation of known miR-145 signals including EGFR, MMP1, MT-MMP, c-Myc, PAK4 and Sox-2. Selinexor also induced the expression of two important tumor suppressive miRNAs, miR-34c and let-7d, leading to the up-regulation of p21WAF1. We also observed the down-regulation of oncomir mir-205.

Conclusions: These results are the first to show that targeted inhibition of the nuclear exporter protein XPO1 by RNAi or Selinexor could restore tumor suppressive miRs in PDAC.

Citation Format: Asfar S. Azmi, Yiwei Li, Irfana Muqbil, Amro Aboukameel, William Senapedis, Erkan Baloglu, Yosef Landesman, Michael Kauffman, Sharon Shacham, Philip A. Philip, Ramzi M. Mohammad. Novel role of xpo1 in regulating MicroRNAs related to pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma invasion and metastasis [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 464. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-464