MicoRNA-301a Promotes Pancreatic cancer Invasion and Metastasis through the JAK/STAT3 Signaling Pathway by Targeting SOCS5

: Pancreatic cancer (PC) is one of the most lethal digestive malignant tumor. We had previously found that miR-301a is a oncogenic miRNA whose recognized conduce to NF-κB activation in pancreatic cancer, yet the underlying mechanisms of miR-301a in promoting pancreatic cancer invasion and migration is obscure. In this work we found that high expression of miR-301a in human pancreatic cancer patients is related to poor survival. Overexpression of miR-301a enhances pancreatic cancer cell invasion, angiogenesis and migration, while inhibition of miR-301a suppresses pancreatic cancer cell invasion and reduces orthotopic pancreatic tumor growth and metastasis. Furthermore, suppressor of cytokine signaling 5(SOCS5) is identified as a target gene of miR-301a. We found that miR-301a suppressed the expression the expression of SOCS5 leads to JAK/STAT3 activation and is related to poor overall survival of pancreatic cancer patients. Taken together, our data show for the first time that the feedback loop between miR-301a and JAK/STAT3 pathway may play a significant role in pancreatic cancer invasion and metastasis. Targeting the loop may prove beneficial to prevent metastasis and provide a more effective therapeutic strategy for pancreatic cancer.