Upregulated CTHRC1 promotes human epithelial ovarian cancer invasion through activating EGFR signaling

Oncol Rep. 2016 Dec;36(6):3588-3596. doi: 10.3892/or.2016.5198. Epub 2016 Oct 24.

Abstract

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the major cause of deaths from gynecologic malignancies, and metastasis is the main cause of cancer related death. Collagen triple helix repeat containing-1 (CTHRC1) is a secreted protein that has the ability to inhibit collagen matrix synthesis. In this study, we found that high CTHRC1 expression was associated with poor prognosis of EOC. In vitro experiments showed that CTHRC1 promoted migration and invasion of ovarian cancer cells. CTHRC1 had no effect on ovarian cancer cells viability. Additionally, EGFR inhibitors reduced the promotion effects of CTHRC1 on EOC cell invasion. After silencing of CTHRC1, downregulated expression of phosphorylation of EGFR/ERK1/2/AKT was observed in ovarian cancer cells. Taken together, our results suggest a role for CTHRC1 in the progression of ovarian cancer and identified CTHRC1 as a potentially important predictor for human ovarian cancer prognosis.

MeSH terms

  • Carcinoma, Ovarian Epithelial
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cell Movement
  • Cell Proliferation
  • Disease Progression
  • ErbB Receptors / metabolism*
  • Extracellular Matrix Proteins / metabolism*
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic
  • Humans
  • Kaplan-Meier Estimate
  • Neoplasm Invasiveness
  • Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial / metabolism*
  • Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial / mortality
  • Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial / pathology
  • Ovarian Neoplasms / metabolism*
  • Ovarian Neoplasms / mortality
  • Ovarian Neoplasms / pathology
  • Prognosis
  • Signal Transduction*
  • Transcriptional Activation
  • Up-Regulation

Substances

  • CTHRC1 protein, human
  • Extracellular Matrix Proteins
  • EGFR protein, human
  • ErbB Receptors