Abstract
Ovarian cancer affects 295,000 women worldwide and is the most lethal of gynaecological malignancies. Often diagnosed at a late stage, current research efforts seek to further the molecular understanding of its aetiopathogenesis and the development of novel biomarkers. The present study investigated the expression levels of the glucogenic hormone asprosin [encoded by fibrillin-1 (FBN1)], and its cognate receptor, olfactory receptor 4M1 (OR4M1), in ovarian cancer. A blend of in silico open access The Cancer Genome Atlas data, as well as in vitro reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR), immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence data were used. RT-qPCR revealed expression levels of OR4M1 and FBN1 in clinical samples and in ovarian cancer cell lines (SKOV-3, PEO1, PEO4 and MDAH-2774), as well as the normal human ovarian surface epithelial cell line (HOSEpiC) . Immunohistochemical staining of a tissue microarray was used to identify the expression levels of OR4M1 and asprosin in ovarian cancer samples of varying histological subtype and grade, including clear cell carcinoma, serous ovarian cancer and mucinous adenocarcinoma. Immunofluorescence analysis revealed asprosin expression in SKOV-3 and HOSEpiC cells. These results demonstrated the expression of both asprosin and OR4M1 in normal and malignant human ovarian tissues. This research invokes further investigation to advance the understanding of the role of asprosin and OR4M1 within the ovarian tumour microenvironment.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 650 |
Journal | Oncology Letters |
Volume | 22 |
Issue number | 3 |
Early online date | 9 Jul 2021 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Sept 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Copyright © Kerslake et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License [CC BY 4.0].Funding: The present study was funded by Cancer Treatment & Research Trust and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust (grant no. 12899).
Keywords
- asprosin
- cancer
- fibrillin-1
- olfactory receptor
- olfactory receptor 4M1
- ovarian cancer