Abstract:

Objective：To investigate the effect of transthyretin (TTR) on migration and invasion in ovarian cancer cells and its mechanism. Methods：Lipofectamine 2000 was used to transfect TTR small interfering RNA (siRNA) or non-target siRNA (control group) into cells. Scratch test was used to detect the ability of cell migration, Transwell method was used to detect the ability of cell invasion, the downstream protein expression of TTR was detected by Western blotting. Results：The scratch test showed that the wound healing rate of SKOV-3 cells in the TTR siRNA group and control group was (57.00±5.03)% and (87.33±1.20)% separately (P=0.004). The wound healing rate of OVCAR-3 cells in the TTR siRNA group and control group was (64.67±5.55)% and (84.33±1.45)% separately (P=0.027). Transwell experiments showed that the number of cells penetrated through the chamber in the TTR siRNA group of SKOV-3 and OVCAR-3 cells was (61.00±4.16)% (P=0.013) and (46.33±8.37)% (P=0.003) of the control group, respectively. After suppressing the expression of TTR, Western blotting results showed that the protein expression of Wnt1, β-catenin, MMP-2, and MMP-9 were decreased (P<0.05). Conclusions：TTR may inhibit the invasion and migration of ovarian cancer cells by inhibiting the expression of Wnt1/β-catenin pathway and MMP-2 and MMP-9.

Key words: Prealbumin, Ovarian neoplasms, Cell movement, Neoplasm invasiveness, Wnt1 protein, Beta catenin, Matrix metalloproteinase 9, Matrix metalloproteinase 2