Qingmin Sun1, Xi Zou2, Ting Zhang3, Jian Shen4, Yongxiang Yin3, Jingying Xiang5. 1. Department of Pharmacy, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210029, China; Department of Pharmacy, Affiliated Wuxi Hospital for Maternal and Child Health Care of Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi 214002, China. Electronic address: qingminsun@gmail.com. 2. Department of Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210029, China. 3. Department of Pharmacy, Affiliated Wuxi Hospital for Maternal and Child Health Care of Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi 214002, China. 4. Department of Pharmacy, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210029, China. 5. Department of Pharmacy, Affiliated Wuxi Hospital for Maternal and Child Health Care of Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi 214002, China. Electronic address: wxxjy89@163.com.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Vasculogenic mimicry (VM) indicates that aggressive cancer cells can form de novo vascular networks and provide a perfusion pathway for rapidly growing tumors. MiR-200a has been reported significantly deregulated in ovarian cancer. However, miR-200a regulation of VM and its clinical significance in ovarian cancer remain not elucidated. METHODS: In this study, we identified the VM structure by CD34-PAS staining in ovarian cancer tissue. MiR-200a and protein expression was tested by quantitative RT-PCR and western blot. Bioinformatics prediction, luciferase assay and intervention experiments were employed to identify the target of miR-200a. RESULTS: We certified the VM structure in ovarian cancer, and found that the VM positive rate was significantly associated with tumor grade, stage and metastasis. Further study showed that miR-200a expression levels were significantly lower in VM positive ovarian cancer. In addition, our results suggested that miR-200a inhibited VM by negatively regulated EphA2 expression. Consistently, the inverse correlation of miR-200a and EphA2 has also been found in ovarian cancer patients. Moreover, the expression of miR-200a/EphA2 was significantly associated with patient's clinicopathological parameter, such as tumor stage and metastases. Kaplan-Meier curves confirmed that the patients with low miR-200a expression and/or VM positive had a significantly shorter overall survival. CONCLUSIONS: Our research demonstrates that VM, miR-200a and EphA2 play key roles in the progression and prognosis of ovarian cancer, and for the first time suggests that miR-200a inhibits VM by directly regulating EphA2. Therefore, we might have identified a genetic mechanism underlying the involvement of miR-200a in ovarian cancer VM.
OBJECTIVE: Vasculogenic mimicry (VM) indicates that aggressive cancer cells can form de novo vascular networks and provide a perfusion pathway for rapidly growing tumors. MiR-200a has been reported significantly deregulated in ovarian cancer. However, miR-200a regulation of VM and its clinical significance in ovarian cancer remain not elucidated. METHODS: In this study, we identified the VM structure by CD34-PAS staining in ovarian cancer tissue. MiR-200a and protein expression was tested by quantitative RT-PCR and western blot. Bioinformatics prediction, luciferase assay and intervention experiments were employed to identify the target of miR-200a. RESULTS: We certified the VM structure in ovarian cancer, and found that the VM positive rate was significantly associated with tumor grade, stage and metastasis. Further study showed that miR-200a expression levels were significantly lower in VM positive ovarian cancer. In addition, our results suggested that miR-200a inhibited VM by negatively regulated EphA2 expression. Consistently, the inverse correlation of miR-200a and EphA2 has also been found in ovarian cancerpatients. Moreover, the expression of miR-200a/EphA2 was significantly associated with patient's clinicopathological parameter, such as tumor stage and metastases. Kaplan-Meier curves confirmed that the patients with low miR-200a expression and/or VM positive had a significantly shorter overall survival. CONCLUSIONS: Our research demonstrates that VM, miR-200a and EphA2 play key roles in the progression and prognosis of ovarian cancer, and for the first time suggests that miR-200a inhibits VM by directly regulating EphA2. Therefore, we might have identified a genetic mechanism underlying the involvement of miR-200a in ovarian cancer VM.
Authors: Daniel Delgado-Bellido; Santiago Serrano-Saenz; Mónica Fernández-Cortés; F Javier Oliver Journal: Mol Cancer Date: 2017-03-21 Impact factor: 27.401