Objective To investigate the expression of LncRNA LINC00857 in pancreatic cells and the effect of lncRNA LINC00857 down-regulation on proliferation, migration and apoptosis of pancreatic cancer PANC-1 cells and possible mechanism.

Methods The lentiviral vector GV112 was constructed and infected PANC-1 cells to obtain experimental group, while the blank plasmid was transfected as a negative control group and the cells without intervention were taken as normal control group. CCK-8 assay, Transwell assay, scratch test, flow cytometry, Western blot were used to detect the effect of LINC00857 down-regulation on cell proliferation, migration, apoptosis, cell cycle and EMT-related proteins.

Results LINC00857 expression in pancreatic cancer cells were significantly higher than that in normal pancreatic epithelial cells (P < 0.001). Knockdown of LINC00857 could significantly inhibit the proliferation and migration of PANC-1 cells (P < 0.0001); compared with the negative control group, the apoptosis rates of cells in the experimental groups were significantly increased (P < 0.05), the number of cells in G₀/G₁ phase increased (P < 0.01), the number of cells in S phase decreased (P < 0.05), and the cells were blocked in the G₁ phase, E-cadherin expression was significantly up-regulated (P < 0.05) and N-cadherin and Vimentin expression were significantly down-regulated (N-cadherin: P < 0.01, Vimentin: P < 0.05).

Conclusion LINC00857 can promote proliferation and migration of PANC-1 cells and inhibit its apoptosis by regulating G₁/S phase transition and EMT signaling pathway.