Objective To explore the effect of OASL expression on the proliferation and migration of pancreatic cancer cells.

Methods The GEPIA database was used to analyze the differences in OASL expression in pancreatic cancer tissues and normal pancreatic tissues. The TIMER database was used to analyze the relationship between OASL expression and patient survival. The TCGA database was used to analyze the correlation of OASL expression with the clinicopathological parameters of pancreatic cancer. shRNA was used to knock down the expression of OASL gene in pancreatic cancer panc-1 cells. Lentiviruses were used to overexpress the OASL gene in pancreatic cancer cells. MTT assay was used to evaluate their proliferation ability, and scratch and Transwell experiments were used to evaluate their migration ability. Western blot experiments were used to detect changes in proteins related to tumor proliferation, migration, and invasion.

Results OASL expression in the pancreatic cancer group was significantly higher than that in normal pancreatic tissue (P < 0.05), and patients with high OASL expression in pancreatic cancer patients had worse OS than patients with low expression (P < 0.05). After OASL gene knockdown, the proliferation and migration abilities of panc-1 cells were inhibited, whereas the overexpression of OASL gene promoted the proliferation and migration ability of panc-1 cells. Western blot experiments showed that after OASL knockdown, p-STAT3 protein expression increased, whereas STAT3 and BAK protein expressions decreased. After OASL overexpression, p-STAT3 protein expression decreased, and STAT3 and BAK protein expression increased.

Conclusion OASL may affect the proliferation and migration of pancreatic cancer cells through the STAT3 signaling pathway while affecting BAK expression to induce cell death.