Long non-coding RNA H19 correlates with unfavorable prognosis and promotes cell migration and invasion in ovarian cancer

The purpose of this study is to investigate the expression pattern of lncRNA H19 in OC tissues and to detect the ability of H19 to influence OC cell migration and invasion in vitro. We quantified the levels of H19 within the obtained cancerous and adjacent noncancerous tissues from 258 OC patients. H19 association with patient progression-free survival (PFS) was analyzed by a Kaplan-Meier plot. Expression levels of H19 were reduced by small interfering RNA transfection against H19 or restored by a H19 overexpression plasmid transfection in OC cells. H19 effects on OC cell migration and invasion in vitro were evaluated using wound-healing assay and transwell invasion assay. Wound healing assay and transwell invasion assay were used to evaluate the effects of H19 on OC cell migration and invasion in vitro. H19 is upregulated remarkably in primary OC tissues and human OC cell lines (OVCAR3, SKOV3, A2780, and Caov-3). We found that the median PFS was longer in patients with lower levels of H19 than in those with high levels, suggesting that overexpression of H19 was linked to poor prognosis in OC patients. Intriguingly, the depletion of H19 expression induced by small interfering RNA inhibited the capability of migration and invasion of OC cell lines. Restoration of H19 in OC cell lines significantly increased cell migration and invasion. The key finding of the present study suggests that overexpression of H19 may be associated with an unfavorable prognosis for OC and is likely to be a possible contributory force involved in OC cell migration and invasion. H19 may provide a new and attractive target for future prognostic and therapeutic intervention of OC patients.