Cancer stem cells (CSCs) play a central role in ovarian cancer (OC), understanding regulatory mechanisms governing their stemness is critical. Here, we report ISYNA1, the rate-limiting enzyme in myo-inositol biosynthesis, as a suppressor of OC regulating cancer stemness. We identified ISYNA1 as a differentially expressed gene in normal ovary and ovarian cancer tissues, as well as OC cells and OCSCs. Low ISYNA1 expression correlated with poor prognosis in OC patients. In addition, ISYNA1 was negatively correlated with cancer stem cell (CSC) markers, and ISYNA1-related pathways were enriched in Wnt, Notch, and other critical cancer pathways. ISYNA1 deficiency promoted OC cell growth, migration, and invasion ability in vitro and in vivo. Knockdown of ISYNA1 increased stemness of OC cells, including self-renewal, CSC markers expression, ALDH activity, and proportion of CD44+/CD117+ CSCs. Conversely, ectopic overexpression of ISYNA1 suppresses cell proliferation, migration, invasion and stemness of OC cells. Mechanistically, ISYNA1 inhibits OC stemness by regulating myo-inositol to suppress Notch1 signaling. In summary, these data provide evidence that ISYNA1 act as a tumor suppressor in OC and a regulator of stemness, providing insight into potentially targetable pathways for ovarian cancer therapy.
Keywords: Cancer stemness; ISYNA1; Myo-inositol; Notch1; Ovarian cancer.
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