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NFATC1 promotes cell growth and tumorigenesis in ovarian cancer up-regulating c-Myc through ERK1/2/p38 MAPK signal pathway

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Tumor Biology

Abstract

It has been reported that nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFATC1) was up-regulated in cancers mediating malignant behaviors. However, the role of NFATC1 in ovarian cancer has not been elucidated. In the present study, we undertook to explore the clinicopathological significance of NFATC1 expression and the mechanism by which NFATC1 works in ovarian cancer. Expression status of NFATC1 was examined using immunohistochemistry. Both knockdown and re-expression of NFATC1 on ovarian cancer cells were employed to observe the effect overgrowth. It was found that NFATC1 was significantly overexpressed in ovarian cancer tissues in comparison with paired normal control tissues and that overexpression of NFATC1 was significantly associated with metastasis and poor prognosis on clinical tissue level. In in vitro ovarian cancer cell lines, we found that NFATC1 can promote proliferation up-regulating c-myc through activation of ERK1/2/p38/MAPK signal pathway. Together, the results we obtained demonstrated that NFATC1 played oncogenic role in ovarian cancer. Mechanistically, NFATC1 promoted growth of ovarian cancer cells up-regulating c-myc through activation of ERK1/2/p38/MAPK signal pathway, suggesting that NFATC1 might be used as a therapeutic target for ovarian cancer.

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Acknowledgments

The present wok was supported by National Science Foundation of China (81473636), Jiangsu 333 plan (BRA2014345), Jiangsu Medical Key Personal Scholarship (BR2011091), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2013 M542577).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Gynaecology, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 55 Hanzhong Road, Nanjing, 210029, China

    Wenwen Xu, Junjie Gu, Qingling Ren, Yanqiu Shi, Qinhua Xia & Jing Wang

  2. Department of Gynecologic Oncology, Jiangsu Cancer Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, 42 Baiziting, Nanjing, 210009, China

    Suli Wang, Yingchun Wang & Jinhua Wang

Authors
  1. Wenwen Xu
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  2. Junjie Gu
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  3. Qingling Ren
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  4. Yanqiu Shi
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  5. Qinhua Xia
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  6. Jing Wang
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  7. Suli Wang
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  8. Yingchun Wang
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  9. Jinhua Wang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jinhua Wang.

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Wenwen Xu and Junjie Gu contributed equally to the paper.

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Xu, W., Gu, J., Ren, Q. et al. NFATC1 promotes cell growth and tumorigenesis in ovarian cancer up-regulating c-Myc through ERK1/2/p38 MAPK signal pathway. Tumor Biol. 37, 4493–4500 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-015-4245-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-015-4245-x

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