Baicalein induces apoptosis of pancreatic cancer cells by regulating the expression of miR-139-3p and miR-196b-5p

Pancreatic cancer is a common malignant tumor with a high incidence and mortality rate. The prognosis of patients with pancreatic cancer is considerably poor due to the lack of effective treatment in clinically. Despite numerous studies have revealed that baicalein, a natural product, is responsible for inhibiting multiple cancer cells proliferation, motility and invasion and promoting apoptosis. The mechanism by which baicalein restraining pancreatic cancer progression remains unclear. In this study, we firstly verified that baicalein plays a critical role in inhibiting pancreatic tumorigenesis in vitro and in vivo. Then we analyzed the alteration of microRNAs (miRNAs) expression levels in Panc-1 cells incubated with DMSO, 50 uM and 100 uM baicalein by high-throughput sequencing. Intriguingly, we observed that 20 and 39 miRNAs were accordingly up- and down-regulated through comparing Panc-1 cells exposing to 100 uM baicalein with the control group. Moreover, we reconfirmed the sequencing analysis results by quantitative PCR. The results suggested that the fold change of miR-139-3p or miR-196b-5p was increased or decreased the most in baicalein treated group, which was consistent with sequencing analysis data. Further studies showed that miR-139-3p induced, miR-196b-5p inhibited the apoptosis of Panc-1 cells via respectively targeting NOB1 and ING5. In conclusion, we demonstrated that baicalein is a potent suppressor against pancreatic cancer by modulating the expression of miR-139-3p or miR-196b-5p.