4-oxo-6-((pyrimidin-2-ylthio)methyl)-4h-pyran-3-yl-4-nitrobenzoate and Neoplasm-Metastasis

High mortality rates in ovarian cancer are due to late-stage diagnosis when extensive metastases are present, coupled with the eventual development of resistance to standard chemotherapy. There is, thus, an urgent need to identify targetable pathways to curtail this deadly disease. In this study, we show that the apelin receptor, APJ, is a viable target that promotes tumor progression of high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC). APJ is specifically overexpressed in tumor tissue, and is elevated in metastatic tissues compared with primary tumors. Importantly, increased APJ expression significantly correlates with decreased median overall survival (OS) by 14.7 months in patients with HGSOC. Using various ovarian cancer model systems, we demonstrate that APJ expression in cancer cells is both necessary and sufficient to increase prometastatic phenotypes

Topics: Animals; Apelin Receptors; Cell Adhesion; Cell Line; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Movement; Cell Proliferation; Disease Progression; Extracellular Matrix; Female; Humans; MAP Kinase Signaling System; Mice; Mice, Nude; Neoplasm Metastasis; Nitrobenzoates; Ovarian Neoplasms; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; Pyrans; Signal Transduction; STAT3 Transcription Factor