miR‑539 suppresses the proliferation, migration, invasion and epithelial mesenchymal transition of pancreatic cancer cells through targeting SP1

MicroRNA (miR)539 has inhibitory effects on certain types of cancer, but its role in pancreatic cancer (PCa) remains unclear. The present study investigated the effects of miR539 on PCa, and aimed to determine possible therapeutic targets for the treatment of PCa. The expression of miR539 in PCa tissues, paired normal adjacent tissues and PCa cell lines (CAPAN2, BxPC3, CFPAC1, SW1990 and PANC1), and human noncancerous pancreatic cells (hTRETHPNE) was determined and compared. The effects of upregulation and downregulation of miR539 on proliferation, apoptosis, cell cycle, invasion, migration and epithelialmesenchymal transition (EMT) of PCa cells were investigated. Additionally, the target gene of miR539 was predicted and its effects on PCa cells were further investigated. The results revealed low expression of miR539 in PCa tissues and cell lines. Additionally, increasing miR539 expression inhibited the proliferation, migration, invasion and EMT of PCa cells and induced apoptosis by blocking G1 phase of the cell cycle, while reducing miR539 expression had the opposite results. Furthermore, specificity protein 1 (SP1) was found to be the target gene of miR539. SP1 promoted the proliferation, migration, invasion and EMT transformation of PCa cells, but these effects were reversed by high expression of miR539. Additionally, miR539 suppressed the proliferation, metastasis, invasion and EMT transformation of PCa cells through targeting SP1. Therefore, miR539 overexpression may contribute toward development of novel therapeutic strategies for PCa in the future.