Long non-coding RNA THOR promotes Ovarian Cancer cells progression via STAT3 pathway
Abstract Background Ovarian cancer (OC) is one of the most common malignant tumors in the world. The prognosis of OC remains poor due to the advanced stage and distant metastasis at the time of diagnosis. Recently, a novel lncRNA, THOR (testis-associated highly conserved oncogenic long non-coding RNA), was characterized in human cancers and shown to exhibit an oncogenic role. However, the role of THOR in OC was still unknown.Methods RT-PCR and western blot analysis were used to detect the expression of THOR and p-STAT3. The impact of THOR on OC proliferation, metastasis and self-renew was investigated in vitro and in vivo . The prognostic value of THOR was determined in OC patient cohorts.Results In this study, our results found that THOR was markedly upregulated in human OC tissues and predict the poor prognosis of OC patients. THOR knockdown resulted in significant inhibition of the growth, metastasis and self-renewal of OC cells. Mechanistically, THOR drives OC cell progression via the STAT3 signaling. Moreover, the specific STAT3 inhibitor S3I-201 diminished the discrepancy in the growth, metastatic and self-renewal capacity between THOR-silenced OC cells and control cells, which further confirmed that STAT3 was required in THOR-driven OC cells progression.Conclusion Our findings revealed that THOR could promote OC cells growth, metastasis and self-renew by activating STAT3 signaling and may be a good predictive factor and therapeutic target.