Expression of miR-425-5p in Pancreatic Carcinoma and Its Correlation with Tumor Immune Microenvironment

Abstract

Background: Pancreatic carcinoma (PC) is a global health threat with a high death rate. miRNAs are implicated in tumor initiation and progression. This study explored the expression of miR-425-5p in PC patients and its correlation with tumor immune microenvironment (TIME).

Method: miR-425-5p expression in cancer tissues and adjacent non-tumor tissues of PC patients was examined by RT-qPCR. The levels of immune cells and cytokines were measured by flow cytometry and ELISA. The correlation of miR-425-5p with TNM stage and TIME was assessed by Spearman method. The death of PC patients was recorded through 36-month follow-ups. The prognosis of patients was assessed by Kaplan-Meier curves.

Results: miR-425-5p expression was upregulated in PC tissues and elevated with increasing TNM stage. miR-425-5p expression was positively correlated with TNM stage. The PC tissues had decreased levels of CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, and natural killer (NK) cells, CD4+/CD8+ ratio, IL-2, and INF-γ, but increased levels of Tregs, IL-4, IL-10, and TGF-β. miR-425-5p level in cancer tissues was positively correlated with Tregs/IL-10/TGF-β, but negatively related to CD3+/CD4+/CD8+/NK cells and IL-2/INF-γ. Moreover, high miR-425-5p expression predicted a poor prognosis in PC patients.

Conclusion: miR-425-5p is upregulated in PC patients and is prominently associated with the TIME, and high miR-425-5p predicts a poor prognosis in PC patients.

Keywords:

• Pancreatic carcinoma
• miR-425-5p
• immune cells
• immune factors
• prognosis

Authors’ contributions

SJ is the guarantors of integrity of the entire study and contributed to the study concepts, study design, definition of intellectual content; DHK contributed to the literature research, clinical studies, data analysis; JLT contributed to the data acquisition, statistical analysis, manuscript editing, manuscript review.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Data availability statement

The datasets used and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This study was approved by the Academic Ethics Committee of Suining Central Hospital. All enrolled subjects were informed of the study purpose and signed the informed consent. All procedures were strictly implemented according to the Declaration of Helsinki.