Upregulation of lncRNA AB073614 functions as a predictor of epithelial ovarian cancer prognosis and promotes tumor growth in vitro and in vivo.

Backgrounds: Upregulation of lncRNA AB073614 is found in some cancer types and involved in tumor development and progression including ovarian cancer. However, the clinical value and functional role of lncRNA AB073614 in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) still needed to be investigated.

Methods: We examined lncRNA AB073614 expression using quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) in 75 paired of EOC tissue samples and adjacent normal tissues. Association of lncRNA AB073614 expression with overall survival (OS) was evaluated using Kaplan-Meier analysis. Univariate and multivariate analysis of factors associated with OS were assessed in EOC patients. After lncRNA AB073614 knockdown using siRNAs, the cell viability and cell colony forming assays were performed. Western blot analysis was used to assess relative protein expression.

Results: In present study, we demonstrated that lncRNA AB073614 was significantly upregulated in ovarian cancer tissues compared to adjacent normal tissues in patients. Higher lncRNA AB073614 expression significantly associated with tumor size, lymph node invasion, FIGO stage, and shorter OS rate of EOC patients. Furthermore, multivariate Cox regression analysis results showed that higher lncRNA AB0736141 was identified as an independent risk factor of OS in EOC patients. Moreover, we demonstrated that lncRNA AB0736141 knockdown suppressed EOC cell proliferation ability and cell colony formation in vitro. In vivo, we showed that AB0736141 knockdown suppressed tumor growth. We also revealed that lncRNA AB0736141 knockdown inhibited the PTEN/PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in EOC.

Conclusions: Thus, these results indicated that LncRNA AB073614 may serve as a prognostic biomarker and potential target of treatment for EOC.