Abstract

Objective: The incidence of ovarian cancer ranks third among gynecological malignancies, after cervical cancer and endometrial cancer. However, the mortality rate of ovarian cancer has always been the highest. The pathogenesis of ovarian cancer is not fully understood because the ovary is located deep in the pelvis, the onset of the disease is relatively insidious, and ovarian cancer is usually diagnosed at an advanced stage. The aim of our study was to explore new biomarkers and possible therapeutic targets for ovarian cancer.

Methods: We used public data from the cancer genome atlas The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Genotype- Tissue Expression (GTEx) databases to explore the expression level of the RAB3IP gene in ovarian cancer patients. At the same time, we analyzed the correlation between the RAB3IP gene expression and patient survival, and use ROC curve to predict its clinical efficacy. We validated the level of RAB3IP in ovarian cancer tissue using WB and q-PCR. We used cck-8, wound-healing assay and colony formation assay to verify its potential biological function in ovarian cancer. By using molecular docking technology to predict potential drug targets. Pathway enrichment analyses was used to analyze the mechanism of the RAB3IP in the occurrence and development of ovarian cancer.

Results: In this study, we found that the expression of RAB3IP in ovarian cancer is high by bioinformatics and cell biology and verified it with tissue samples. The promotion of RAB3IP on the proliferation and migration of ovarian cancer was confirmed by cck-8, wound-healing assay and colony formation assay, and RAB3IP-related genes were enriched for their possible functions, which were believed to be involved in the immune and micro environmental regulation of ovarian cancer to some extent. The expression level of RAB3IP is also significantly correlated with the prognosis of ovarian cancer. In addition, we performed drug target prediction of RAB3IP, identifying austocystin D and belinostat as potential target drugs that may play a role, and used molecular docking for preliminary validation.

Conclusion: All these results provide preliminary evidence that RAB3IP can be used as a new ovarian cancer biomarker to develop new therapeutic targets

Keywords: Ovarian cancer; RAB3IP; Bioinformatics; Biomarkers