Background and Aims N⁶-methyladenosine (m6A) epigenetic modification plays a crucial role in post-transcriptional gene expression regulation and various physiological and pathological processes, including tumorigenesis. The m6A reader IGF2BP2 significantly enhances mRNA stability and translation efficiency and is abnormally expressed in multiple cancers. However, the specific biological function of IGF2BP2 in pancreatic cancer remains unclear. Therefore, this study investigated the expression of the m6A reader IGF2BP2 in pancreatic cancer and its effects on pancreatic cancer cell functions.Methods The expression levels of m6A-related writers, erasers, and readers were analyzed using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEX) database, and the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was conducted to assess the relationship between IGF2BP2 expression and the prognosis of pancreatic cancer patients. Immunohistochemistry was used to validate IGF2BP2 expression in clinical specimens of pancreatic cancer tissues and adjacent normal tissues. Functional experiments, including CCK-8 assay, flow cytometry for cell cycle analysis, colony formation assay, and Transwell migration assay, were performed to evaluate changes in cell proliferation, cell cycle distribution, colony formation ability, and migration capacity after IGF2BP2 knockdown in pancreatic cancer cells.Results TCGA-GTEX and GEO database analyses showed that IGF2BP2 was highly expressed in pancreatic cancer tissues (both P<0.05) and that its high expression was associated with poor overall survival (both P<0.05). Immunohistochemical staining of clinical specimens confirmed that IGF2BP2 protein expression was higher in pancreatic cancer than in adjacent normal tissue. Functional experiments demonstrated that IGF2BP2 knockdown significantly reduced the proliferation ability of pancreatic cancer cells, arrested more cells in the G0-G1 phase, decreased colony formation, and impaired cell migration (all P<0.05).Conclusion The m6A reader IGF2BP2 is highly expressed in pancreatic cancer tissues and is closely associated with poor prognosis in patients with this disease. Its mechanism of action may be related to the promotion of cancer cell growth and migration.