Ezrin Promotes the Proliferation, Migration, and Invasion of Ovarian Cancer Cells

• 作者: LI Mo Juan XIONG Dan HUANG Hao WEN Zhong Yong
• 来源期刊: 生物医学与环境科学（英文版）
• 年，卷（期）: 2021,（2）
• 所属期刊栏目: Special Column: Reproductive Health
• 页码范围: 139-151,中插19
• 页数: 14页
• 语种: 英文
• DOI: 10.3967/bes2021.020

摘要

Objective The underlying mechanism of Ezrin in ovarian cancer (OVCA) is far from being understood. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the role of Ezrin in OVCA cells (SKOV3 and CaOV3) and investigate the associated molecular mechanisms. Methods We performed Western blotting, reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction, MTT, cell colony, cell wound healing, transwell migration and invasion, RhoA and Rac active pull down assays, and confocal immunofluorescence experiments to evaluate the functions and molecular mechanisms of Ezrin overexpression or knockdown in the proliferation and metastasis of OVCA cells. Results The ectopic expression of Ezrin significantly increased cell proliferation, invasiveness, and epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) in OVCA cells. By contrast, the knockdown of endogenous Ezrin prevented OVCA cell proliferation, invasiveness, and EMT. Lastly, we observed that Ezrin can positively regulate the active forms of RhoA rather than Rac-1 in OVCA cells, thereby promoting robust stress fiber formation. Conclusion Our results indicated that Ezrin regulates OVCA cell proliferation and invasiveness by modulating EMT and induces actin stress fiber formation by regulating Rho-GTPase activity, which provides novel insights into the treatment of the OVCA.