The HPA/SDC1 axis promotes invasion and metastasis of pancreatic cancer cells by activating EMT via FGF2 upregulation.

Pancreatic cancer is characterized by the absence of early specific clinical symptoms, accompanied with rapid metastasis and invasion. It is one of the most prevalent types of cancer and more importantly, one of the most common types of malignant cancer with the highest mortality rate of all cancer types. The heparanase (HPA)/syndecan-1 (SDC1) axis has been reported to promote tumor growth, invasion, metastasis and angiogenesis in a variety of cancer types; however, studies into the role and mechanism of the HPA/SDC1 axis in pancreatic cancer are limited. The present study aimed to investigate the biological function and clinical significance of the HPA/SDC1 axis in pancreatic cancer. The results demonstrated that HPA is elevated in pancreatic cancer tissues and cell lines, and that its high expression was associated with poor prognosis. HPA was revealed to mediate an increase in fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) expression by upregulating the expression of SDC1. Conversely, silencing HPA mediated the suppression of FGF2 expression. Furthermore, upregulated FGF2 was observed to increase the expression of downstream Palladin proteins by activating the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway and also lead to the activation of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Subsequently, EMT was found to promote the migration and invasion of pancreatic cancer cells. In summary, the HPA/SDC1 axis was revealed to serve an important role in the regulation of FGF2, and was found to promote the invasion and metastasis of pancreatic cancer cells. These findings indicated that the HPA/SDC1 axis may be used as an effective therapeutic target for pancreatic cancer.