miR-34a-FOXP1 Loop in Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian cancer (OC) is the main cause of gynecologicalcancer mortalityin most developed countries. microRNA (miR) expression dysregulationhas been highlighted in human cancers, and miR-34a is found to bedownregulated and associated with inhibition of tumor growth and invasionin several malignancies, including OC. The winged helix transcriptionfactor forkhead box P1 (FOXP1) is reported as either an oncogene ortumor suppressor in various cancers. This study aimed to elucidatepotential clinical and biological associations of miR-34a and transcriptionfactor FOXP1 in OC. We investigated nine OC patients' bloodsamples and two OC cell lines (SKOV-3 and OVCAR-3) using quantitativereal-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR)to determine both miR-34a and FOXP1 expressions. We have found thatmiR-34a and FOXP1 are reversely correlated in both in vitro and invivo. Inhibition of miR-34a transiently led to upregulation of FOXP1mRNA expression and increased cellular invasion in vitro. Our dataindicate that miR-34a could be a potential biomarker for improvingthe diagnostic efficiency of OC, and miR-34a overexpression may reduceOC pathogenesis by targeting FOXP1.