Co-culture and exosome labelling experiments were performed to assess exosomal miR-205 transfer from ovarian cancer (OC) cells to endothelial cells ECs.
Representative members of the miR-200 family of miRNAs and the sequence divergent miR-205 miRNA were independently over expressed in mesenchymal-like ovarian cancer (OC) cells resulting in mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition (MET).
Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and western blot were performed to assess miR-205 and transcription factor 21 (TCF21) expression in ovarian cancer and normal ovary samples.
Overall, we suggest that miR-205 functions as an oncogenic miRNA by directly binding to SMAD4 and PTEN, providing a novel target for the molecular treatment of ovarian cancer.
Additionally, miR-205-upregulation and/or ZEB1-downregulation were significantly associated with high pathological grade and advanced clinical stage of EOC patients (all P<0.05).