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Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals a pro-metastatic subpopulation and the driver transcription factor NFE2L1 in ovarian cancer cells

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Abstract

Background

Although cytoreductive surgery followed by adjuvant chemotherapy is effective as a standard treatment for early-stage ovarian cancer, the majority of ovarian cancer cases are diagnosed at the advanced stages with dissemination to the peritoneal cavity, leading to a poor prognosis. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying metastasis and identify novel therapeutic targets.

Objective

In this study, we aimed to elucidate the mechanisms underlying gene expression alterations during the acquisition of metastatic potential and characterize the metastatic subpopulations within ovarian cancer cells.

Methods

We conducted single-cell RNA sequencing of two human ovarian cancer cell lines: SKOV-3 and SKOV-3-13, a highly metastatic subclone of SKOV-3. Suppression of NFE2L1 expression was performed through siRNA-mediated knockdown and CRISPR-Cas9-mediated knockout.

Results

Clustering and pseudotime trajectory analysis revealed pro-metastatic subpopulation within these cells. Furthermore, gene set enrichment analysis and prognosis analysis indicated that NFE2L1 could be a key transcription factor in the acquisition of metastasis potential. Inhibition of NFE2L1 significantly reduced migration and viability of both cells. In addition, NFE2L1 knockout cells exhibited significantly reduced tumor growth in a mouse xenograft model, recapitulating in silico and in vitro results.

Conclusion

The results presented in this study deepen our understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of ovarian cancer metastasis with the ultimate goal of developing treatments targeting pro-metastatic subclones prior to metastasis.

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Funding

This study was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (RS-2022-00165497, NRF-2019R1A5A2027588, NRF-2020R1H1A1102285).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Precision Medicine Research Center, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Junseong Park, Yoon-Seob Kim, Songzi Zhang, Dokyeong Kim, Sun Shin & Yeun-Jun Chung

  2. Department of Microbiology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, 222 Banpo-daero, Seocho-gu, Seoul, 06591, Republic of Korea

    Yoon-Seob Kim, Songzi Zhang, Sun Shin & Yeun-Jun Chung

  3. Department of Biomedicine and Health Sciences, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Dokyeong Kim & Yeun-Jun Chung

  4. Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Sug Hyung Lee

  5. Cancer Evolution Research Center, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Sug Hyung Lee

Authors
  1. Junseong Park
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  2. Yoon-Seob Kim
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  3. Songzi Zhang
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  5. Sun Shin
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Contributions

Conceptualization, JP, SHL, and Y-JC; Methodology, JP, Y-SK, SZ, DK, and SS; Software, JP and Y-SK; Validation, JP, Y-SK, and DK; Formal Analysis, JP, Y-SK, SZ, and DK; Investigation, JP, SZ, and DK; Resources, SS, SHL, and Y-JC; Data Curation, JP, Y-SK, and SZ; Writing – Original Draft, JP; Writing – Review & Editing, JP and Y-JC; Visualization, JP and SZ; Project Administration, SHL and Y-JC; Funding Acquisition, JP and Y-JC.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yeun-Jun Chung.

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Park, J., Kim, YS., Zhang, S. et al. Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals a pro-metastatic subpopulation and the driver transcription factor NFE2L1 in ovarian cancer cells. Genes Genom 45, 1107–1115 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13258-023-01418-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13258-023-01418-1

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