Cell motility and spreading are suppressed by HOXA4 in ovarian cancer cells: possible involvement of beta1 integrin.

HOX genes are transcription factors that control morphogenesis, organogenesis and differentiation. Increasing evidence suggests that HOX genes play a role in ovarian cancer progression; however few studies have defined functional roles and mechanisms of action. We showed previously that HOXA4 expression is increased in invasive, compared to noninvasive, epithelial ovarian tumors. However, HOXA4 suppressed cell migration suggesting that elevated HOXA4 expression in invasive tumors constitutes a homeostatic response. In the present study, we used siRNA and forced-expression in multiple cell lines to define the role of HOXA4 in the regulation of transwell migration/invasion and cellular/colony morphology. Knockdown of endogenous HOXA4 increased migration, but not Matrigel invasion, of OVCAR-8 and OVCAR-3 cells. HOXA4 knockdown also increased cell spreading on plastic or fibronectin, reduced cell-cell adhesion, and increased filopodia in two- and three-dimensional cultures. These changes were not associated with significant changes in alphaV or beta3 integrin and E- or N-cadherin. However, down-regulation of HOXA4 significantly reduced beta1 integrin protein levels within cell colonies and cell aggregates, but not of single, nonadherent cells. It had no effect on beta1 integrin, alpha5 integrin, or fibronectin mRNA levels. Conversely, overexpression of HOXA4 in CaOV-3 cells suppressed transwell migration and increased beta1 integrin protein levels. Our results confirm that HOXA4 inhibits cell motility, show that it suppresses cell spreading and filopodia formation while enhancing cell-cell adhesion, and suggest a role for beta1 integrin in mediating these changes. These observations support the hypothesis that overexpression of HOXA4 in invasive ovarian tumors is a homeostatic, invasion-suppressive response.