The platelet-activating factor receptor (PAFR) and its ligand (PAF) are important inflammatory mediators that are overexpressed in ovarian cancer. The receptor is an important player in ovarian cancer development. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of PAFR in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) and the potential use of its antagonist, rupatadine, as an experimental treatment. Tissue microarrays of ovarian cancer patients, most markedly those with a non-mucinous subtype, immunohistochemically overexpressed PAFR. Elevated cytoplasmic PAFR expression was found to significantly and independently impair patients' overall and recurrence-free survival (OS: median 83.48 vs. 155.03 months; p = 0.022; RFS: median 164.46 vs. 78.03 months; p = 0.015). In vitro, the serous ovarian cancer subtypes especially displayed an elevated PAFR gene and protein expression. siRNA knockdown of PAFR decreased cell proliferation significantly, thus confirming the receptor's protumorigenic effect on ovarian cancer cells. The clinically approved PAFR antagonist rupatadine effectively inhibited in vitro cell proliferation and migration of ovarian cancer cells. PAFR is a prognostic marker in ovarian cancer patients and its inhibition through rupatadine may have important therapeutic implications in the therapy of ovarian cancer patients.
Keywords: ovarian cancer; platelet-activating factor (PAF); platelet-activating factor receptor (PAFR); rupatadine.