Abstract
Ever reports showed that PCNP is associated with human cancers including neuroblastoma and lung cancer. However, the role and underlying molecular mechanism of PCNP in ovarian cancer have not been plenty elucidated. Herein, we first investigated the expression of PCNP in ovarian cancer tissues and cells, the effects of PCNP in ovarian cancer proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion, and determined the molecular mechanism of PCNP in ovarian cancer progression. The results indicated that PCNP was significantly overexpressed in human ovarian cancer tissues and cells, and related to poor prognosis in ovarian cancer patients. In addition, we also detected that PCNP promoted ovarian cancer cells growth, migration and invasion, as well as inhibited ovarian cancer cells apoptosis. Mechanistically, PCNP binding to β‐catenin promoted β‐catenin nuclear translocation and further activated Wnt/β‐catenin signalling pathway. Moreover, PCNP regulated the expression of genes involved in EMT and further triggered EMT occurrence. Conclusionally, PCNP may promote ovarian cancer progression through activating Wnt/β‐catenin signalling pathway and EMT, acting as a novel and promising target for treating ovarian cancer.
Highlights
Ovarian cancer (OC) is the leading cause of death in female reproductive system malignancies and has a 5-year survival rate of ~47%.1,2 There are approximately 239 000 new cases and 152 000 deaths worldwide annually with regard to this disease.[3-5]
We examined the effect of PEST-containing nuclear protein (PCNP) on OC cells proliferation, migration, invasion and apoptosis, showing that Wnt/β-catenin pathway was severely affected by PCNP overexpression, and further regulate ovarian cancer tumorigenicity and development for ovarian cancer
PCNP was reported to play a vital role in growth, migration and invasion in lung cancer and neuroblastoma,[11,12] despite acting as tumour-promoter or -suppressor
Summary
Ovarian cancer (OC) is the leading cause of death in female reproductive system malignancies and has a 5-year survival rate of ~47%.1,2 There are approximately 239 000 new cases and 152 000 deaths worldwide annually with regard to this disease.[3-5]. Wnt/β-catenin signalling pathway, which is critically involved in both development and homeostasis of tissues, is indispensable in regulating a variety of cellular biological activities.[13] Abnormal activation of this signal pathway has been implicated in various tumours including ovarian cancer, which can drive a variety of tumorigenic functions including regulation of transformation, cell proliferation and invasion.[13-15]. EMT, plays a critical role in embryonic development and involved in cancer progression and metastasis,[19,20] contributes to new tumour cell properties required for invasiveness and vascular intravasation during metastasis.[21,22]. It is a changeable process during which the epithelial cells lose epithelial properties and acquire mesenchymal characteristics by disassembly of cell-cell junctions, loss of cell polarity, and reorganization of the cytoskeleton, thereby promoting cells to acquire increased motility.[23]. PCNP may have the properties to be used as a new target in the prediction and treatment of ovarian cancer
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