SIGNATURE WORK
CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION 2022

Ovarian cancer (OC) is one of the most lethal gynecological cancers in the world. Although multiple targeted drugs have been developed, the overall prognosis of ovarian cancer remains low due to its high recurrence and metastasis rate. Previous research suggests the important role of the cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) in the dissemination of ovarian cancer. The transdifferentiation from normal stromal fibroblasts to CAFs highly contributes to the migration and dissemination of ovarian cancer cells. Inhibin α (INHA), a member of the transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) superfamily, drives angiogenesis in ovarian cancer and is related to a higher mortality risk among ovarian cancer patients. Nevertheless, little research was done on the interaction between INHA and the cancer- associated fibroblasts in ovarian cancer. This study aims to investigate the influence of INHA on the activation of stromal fibroblasts to cancer-associated fibroblasts. In this research, the expression level of α-SMA, one of the biomarkers for stromal fibroblast transdifferentiation, is assessed upon the knockdown of INHA by siRNA transfection. Results demonstrate that the expression level of α-SMA is decreased after the knockdown of INHA in ovarian cancer cell lines. Moreover, one of the coreceptors of inhibin transduction, Endoglin (ENG/CD105), exhibits a decreased expression level after INHA knockdown. Considering the inhibitory effect of INHA knockdown on the activation of stromal fibroblasts, INHA could be the novel target for the molecular therapy of ovarian cancer metastasis.