Oleanolic Acid (OA) Targeting UNC5B Inhibits Proliferation and EMT of Ovarian Cancer Cell and Increases Chemotherapy Sensitivity of Niraparib

Zhen Zeng; Jing Yu; Zhongqing Jiang; Ningwei Zhao

doi:10.1155/2022/5887671

Oleanolic Acid (OA) Targeting UNC5B Inhibits Proliferation and EMT of Ovarian Cancer Cell and Increases Chemotherapy Sensitivity of Niraparib

J Oncol. 2022 Jan 6:2022:5887671. doi: 10.1155/2022/5887671. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Zhen Zeng¹, Jing Yu¹, Zhongqing Jiang², Ningwei Zhao³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou 350122, China.
² Department of Gynaecology, Affiliated Fuzhou First Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou 350009, China.
³ China Exposomics Institute, Shanghai 201203, China.

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the effect of OA on proliferation, migration, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of ovarian cancer cells by inhibiting UNC5B and to study its mechanism.

Methods: TCGA database was used to analyze the expression of UNC5B in ovarian cancer and its relationship with prognosis. The expression of UNC5B in ovarian cancer cells was detected by qPCR assay. qRT-PCR was used to detect the changes of EMT markers after different treatments. CCK-8 assay was used to detect cell proliferation, transwell assay was used to evaluate cell migration, and clonogenesis assay was used to evaluate the effect of UNC5B on ovarian cancer cell proliferation. Meanwhile, the synergistic effect of OA on niraparib was evaluated.

Results: UNC5B was highly expressed in ovarian cancer, and its expression was negatively correlated with the prognosis of ovarian cancer patients. UNC5B was highly expressed in ovarian cancer cells SKOV3 and OVCA420 compared with normal ovarian epithelial cells. In addition, silencing UNC5B inhibits the proliferation, invasion, clonogenesis, and EMT processes of ovarian cancer cells. OA inhibits proliferation, invasion, and clonogenesis of ovarian cancer cells by inhibiting UNC5B and increases the antitumor activity of niraparib.

Conclusion: UNC5B acts as an oncogenic gene in ovarian cancer. OA inhibits ovarian cancer cell proliferation, migration, and EMT by targeting UNC5B and increases the antitumor effect of niraparib. UNC5B is expected to be a new potential therapeutic target for ovarian cancer. OA may be used as an antitumor drug and deserves further study.