Abstract: Objective：To explore the difference in the expression of long chain non-coding RNA (lncRNA) FAL1 between epithelial ovarian cancer cells and normal human ovarian cells and the effect of lncRNA FAL1 expression in ovarian cancer cell line SKVO3 on invasion, migration and apoptosis of ovarian cancer cells. Methods：Using real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) technique to detect the FAL1 expression level of lncRNA in tissues; the design and synthesis of FAL1-siRNA primer sequence was transfected into SKVO3, detection of ovarian cancer cell migration by cell scratch test, Transwell to detect the invasive ability of ovarian cancer cells, detect the apoptosis of ovarian cancer cells by flow cytometry (Western blotting), Western blotting detection of phosphorylated extracellular signal regulated protein kinase 1/2 (p-ERK1/2) and phosphorylation of mitogen extracellular kinase 1/2 (p-MEK1/2) protein expression level. Results：The expression of lncRNA FAL1 in epithelial ovarian cancer tissues was higher than that of normal ovarian tissue [(15.04±2.24) vs. (2.93±0.39), P＜0.05]. After silencing the expression of lncRNA FAL1, the apoptotic ability of ovarian cancer cells was significantly enhanced [(18.38±0.73)% vs. (2.86±0.09)%, P＜0.05], while the migration and invasion ability of ovarian cancer cells were decreased [(6.68±1.49) μm vs. (12.85±2.56) μm, (25.80±2.59) vs. (145.6±5.23), P＜0.05], and the phosphorylation level of MEK1/2 and ERK1/2 protein in MEK/ERK pathway was significantly decreased (P＜0.05). Conclusions：lncRNA FAL1 can influence the invasion, migration and apoptosis of epithelial ovarian cancer cells by activating MEK/ERK pathway, and its abnormal expression may be an important molecular mechanism of occurrence and development of ovarian cancer.

Key words:  FAL1, Long non-coding RNA, Ovarian neoplasms, Polymerase chain reaction, Motogen-activated protein kinase kinases