MicroRNAs as emerging biomarkers and therapeutic targets for pancreatic cancer

Table 1 MicroRNAs as diagnostic markers for pancreatic cancer

miRNA	Biopsies	FNA	Circulating	Ref.
Let-7a	X (↓)	X (↓)		[33]
miR-34a	X (↓)			[24]
miR-96	X (↓)			[23]
miR-99a			X (↑)	[55]
miR-101	X (↑)			[67]
miR-132	X (↑/↓)			[21,22]
miR-141	X (↓)			[27]
miR-143	X (↑)			[27]
miR-145	X (↑)			[27]
miR-146a	X (↑)			[27]
miR-148a	X (↓)			[27,29]
miR-148b	X (↓)	X (↓)		[27,34]
miR-150	X (↑)			[27]
miR155	X (↑)		X (↑)	[26,27,53,62,67,68]
miR-16			X (↑)	[57]
miR-181a	X (↑)			[26]
miR-181b	X (↑)			[26]
miR-181d	X (↑)			[26]
miR-185			X (↑)	[59]
miR-191			X (↑)	[55,59]
miR-196a	X (↑)	X (↑)	X (↑)	[27,29,32,53,57]
miR-196b	X (↑)			[27,29]
miR-20a			X (↑)	[55,59]
miR-200a			X (↑)	[56]
miR-200b			X (↑)	[56]
miR-203	X (↑)			[28]
miR-210	X (↑)		X (↑)	[29,54]
miR-212	X (↑)			[20]
miR-216	X (↓)			[27]
miR-217	X (↓)	X (↓)		[27,31]
miR-21	X (↑)	X (↑)	X (↑)	[20,26,25,51,53,55,60,64,67-69]
miR-210	X (↑)		X (↑)	[27,53]
miR-221	X (↑)		X (↑)	[20,26,58,69]
miR-222	X (↑)			[20,26,27]
miR-223	X (↑)			[27]
miR-24			X (↑)	[55]
miR-27a-3p			X (↑)	[59]
miR-29c	X (↓)			[27]
miR-30a-3p	X (↓)			[27]
miR-301	X (↑)			[20]
miR-31	X (↑)			[27]
miR-375	X (↓)			[27]
miR-376a	X (↑)			[20]
miR-494	X (↓)			[27]
miR-1290	X (↑)			[61]

miRNAs: MicroRNAs; Biopsies: Resected tumors; FNA: Fine needle aspiration; ↑: Upregulated; ↓: Downregulated.

Table 2 MicroRNAs as prognostic and predictive markers for pancreatic cancer

miRNA	Biopsies	FNA	Prognostic	Predictive of treatment efficacy	Ref.
miR-105, miR-127, miR-187, miR-30a-3p, miR-452, miR-518a-2	X (↑)		+		[26]
miR-155, miR-200, miR-203, miR-205	X (↑)		+		[35]
miR-21 (↑), miR-34a (↓), miR-30d (↓)	X		-		[37]
miR-212 (↑), miR-675 (↑), miR-148a (↓), miR-187 (↓), let-7g (↓)	X		-		[38]
miR-146 (↑), miR-205 (↓), miR-7 (↓)	X		-	-	[50]
miR-10b		X (↑)		-	[51,52]
miR-196a	X (↑)		-		[26]
miR-219	X (↑)		-		[36]
miR-200c	X (↑)		+		[36]
miR-21	X (↑)	X (↑)	-	-	[40,41,51]

miRNAs: MicroRNAs; Biopsies: Resected tumors; FNA: Fine needle aspiration; ↑: Upregulated; ↓: Downregulated; +: Good prognosis/response to treatment; -: Bad prognosis/response to treatment.

Table 3 MicroRNAs as therapeutic targets in pancreatic cancer

miRNA	Expression	Known target(s)	Function	Ref.
Let-7	↓	KRAS	Inhibition of cell proliferation, chemosensitization	[33,85,86]
miR-10b	↑	TIP30	Increased cell proliferation and invasion	[52]
miR-21	↑		Inhibition of cell proliferation, invasion, tumor growth, chemoresistance and inhibition of apoptosis	[95]
miR-23b			Radioresistance	[91]
miR-29a		Wnt/β-catenin	Chemosensitization to gemcitabine	[88]
miR-34a	↓	Smad3	Inhibition of cell proliferation and invasion, induction of apoptosis	[82,83,94]
miR-96	↓	KRAS	Inhibition of cell proliferation, invasion, tumor growth and induction of apoptosis	[23,70]
miR-99b		mTOR	Radioresistance	[90]
miR-132	↑↓	Rb1	Alteration of cell proliferation	[31,32]
miR-138		lipocalin	Inhibition of tumorigenicity	[93]
miR-141	↓	MAP4K4	Inhibition of cell proliferation and invasion, chemosensitization	[92]
miR-142-3p			Inhibition of cell proliferation	[72]
miR-148a	↓		None	[78]
miR-148b	↓	AMPKα1	Inhibition of cell proliferation, invasion and chemosensitization	[79]
miR-150*		IGF-1R	Induction of apoptosis	[73]
miR-181b	↑	NFkB	Chemosensitization to gemcitabine	[89]
miR-197			Induction of EMT	[75]
miR-198	↓	MSLN, OCT-2, PBX-1, VCP	Inhibition of cell proliferation, invasion, tumor growth and induction of apoptosis	[71]
miR-212	↑	Rb1	Increased cell proliferation	[21]
miR-218	↓		Inhibition of cell proliferation and tumor growth and metastasis	[84]
miR-221	↑		Increased migration, proliferation and EMT	[77]
miR-320c		SMARCC1	Chemosensitization to gemcitabine	[77]
miR-373			Increased tumor growth	[74]
miR-630		IGF-1R	Induction of apoptosis	[73]
miR-655			Inhibition of EMT	[76]

↑: Upregulated; ↓: Downregulated; EMT: Epithelial-mesenchymal transition.