BACKGROUND: Ovarian cancer is one of the most common gynecological malignancies and mortality ranks the highest in cancer-associated death in females’ worldwide. Here, we attempted to evaluate the effect of DANCR on the biological behavior of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) stimulated ovarian cancer cells.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: The expression of DANCR in ovarian cancer cells (A2780 and SKOV3) treated with TGF-β were detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). DANCR silencing was constructed using lentiviral transfection in ovarian cancer cells. The Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8), flow cytometry and Transwell assays were performed to measure some cytology index. Western blot was utilized to explore the effect of DANCR on Krüppel-like factor 5 (KLF5) expression.

RESULTS: The expression of DANCR in cancer cells (A2780 and SKOV3) treated with TGF-β was significantly higher. DANCR silencing suppressed cell viability, migration and invasion, and induced cell apoptosis of TGF-β treated ovarian cancer cells. Bioinformatics analysis showed that DANCR served as a sponge for miR-214, and also showed that KLF5 was targeted by miR-214. In addition, DANCR could inhibit the expression of KLF5.

CONCLUSIONS: We are the first to report that knockdown of DANCR could affect the biological process of ovarian cancer cells treated with TGF-β by sponging miR-214, which may provide new therapeutic ideas of ovarian cancer.

Keywords: Ovarian Neoplasms, Transforming Growth Factor beta