Circ-ITCH correlates with small tumor size, decreased FIGO stage and prolonged overall survival, and it inhibits cells proliferation while promotes cells apoptosis in epithelial ovarian cancer
Affiliations: [a] Department of Orthopedics, The Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China | [b] Department of Clinical Laboratory, Zaozhuang Municipal Hospital, Zaozhuang, Shandong, China | [c] Department of Histology and Embryology, Hunan Academy of Chinese Medicine, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha, Hunan, China
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Xiaofeng Sun, Department of Histology and Embryology, Hunan Academy of Chinese Medicine, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Science Garden District of Hanpu, Changsha 410208, Hunan, China. Tel.: +86 13975139551; Fax: +86 731 88458217; E-mail: sunxiaofengy@163.com.
Note: [1] Ling Luo and Yuqiang Gao contributed equally to this work.
Abstract: OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation of circular RNA itchy E3 ubiquitin protein ligase (Circ-ITCH) expression with clinicopathological features and survival in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), and to explore its effect on cells proliferation as well as apoptosis in EOC cells. METHODS: Seventy-seven EOC patients underwent surgery were retrospectively reviewed. Tumor tissues and paired adjacent tissues samples were collected, and Circ-ITCH expression was evaluated by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Blank mimic, Circ-ITCH mimic, blank inhibitor and Circ-ITCH inhibitor plasmids were transfected into SKOV3 cells and OVCAR-3 cells, and Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) was performed to assess cells proliferation and Annexin V (AV)/propidium iodide (PI) was conducted to detect cells apoptosis. RESULTS: Median value of Circ-ITCH relative expression was 0.697 (0.367–1.106) in tumor tissues, which was lower compared with paired adjacent tissues (1.690 (0.867–2.813)) (P< 0.001), and it negatively correlated with tumor size (P= 0.005) as well as International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage (P< 0.001) in EOC patients. Multivariate Cox’s analysis revealed that high Circ-ITCH expression was an independent predictive factor for favorable OS in EOC patients. Moreover, further in vitro experiments disclosed that Circ-ITCH expression was decreased in several EOC cell lines compared with normal ovarian epithelial cell line, and it inhibited cells proliferation while promoted cells apoptosis in SKOV3 and OVCAR-3 cells. CONCLUSIONS: Circ-ITCH correlates with small tumor size, decreased FIGO stage and prolonged OS, and it inhibits cells proliferation while promotes cells apoptosis in EOC.
