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Expression and roles of Slit/Robo in human ovarian cancer

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Abstract

The Slit glycoproteins and their Roundabout (Robo) receptors regulate migration and growth of many types of cells including human cancer cells. However, little is known about the expression and roles of Slit/Robo in human ovarian cancer. Herein, we examined the expression of Slit/Robo in human normal and malignant ovarian tissues and its potential participation in regulating migration and proliferation of human ovarian cancer cells using two ovarian cancer cell lines, OVCAR-3 and SKOV-3. We demonstrated that Slit2/3 and Robo1 were immunolocalized primarily in stromal cells in human normal ovaries and in cancer cells in many histotypes of ovarian cancer tissues. Protein expression of Slit2/3 and Robo1/4 was also identified in OVCAR-3 and SKOV-3 cells. However, recombinant human Slit2 did not significantly affect SKOV-3 cell migration, and OVCAR-3 and SKOV-3 cell proliferation. Slit2 also did not induce ERK1/2 and AKT1 phosphorylation in OVCAR-3 and SKOV-3 cells. The current findings indicate that three major members (Slit2/3 and Robo1) of Slit/Robo family are widely expressed in the human normal and malignant ovarian tissues and in OVCAR-3 and SKOV-3 cells. However, Slit/Robo signaling may not play an important role in regulating human ovarian cancer cell proliferation and migration.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health grants HL64703 and HD38843 (JZ).

Conflict of interest

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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  1. Kai Wang

    Present address: Central Laboratory, Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200040, People’s Republic of China

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, 250012, Shandong, People’s Republic of China

    Cai Feng Dai & Pei Shu Liu

  2. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Wisconsin, PAB1 Meriter Hospital, 202 S. Park St, Madison, WI, 53715, USA

    Cai Feng Dai, Yi Zhou Jiang, Yan Li, Kai Wang, Manish S. Patankar & Jing Zheng

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  1. Cai Feng Dai
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Correspondence to Jing Zheng.

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Dai, C.F., Jiang, Y.Z., Li, Y. et al. Expression and roles of Slit/Robo in human ovarian cancer. Histochem Cell Biol 135, 475–485 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00418-011-0806-2

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