The survival strategy of pancreatic cancer cells is based on a small molecule of non-coding RNA (microRNA) called miR-15a. Normally expressed in the healthy pancreas, it is often lost during the early stages of tumor transformation.
Discovery of this mechanism increases our understanding of the disease and provides a useful rationale for setting up therapies, says Gian Luca Rampioni Vinciguerra, first author of the study and researcher at Sapienza University.