Elevated expression of EAPP is associated with poor prognosis and promotes tumor progression in epithelial ovarian cancer

E2F-associated phospho-protein (EAPP) is known to be involved in tumor progression. However, its molecular mechanisms in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) remain unclear. In the present study, we found that EAPP expression was significantly higher in EOC tissues than in nontumor tissues, and aberrant EAPP expression was significantly correlated with histological grade (p = 0.019), FIGO stage (p = 0.003), histological subtype (p = 0.019), lymph node metastasis (p = 0.024), distant metastasis (p = 0.007), and Ki-67 expression (p < 0.001) in EOC. Patients with high EAPP expression had a significantly lower overall survival rate than those with low EAPP expression. More importantly, univariate and multivariate analyses suggested that the EAPP expression level and distant metastasis are independent prognostic risk factors for EOC patients. Furthermore, we demonstrated that EAPP inhibition using siRNA was associated with decreased cell proliferation and reduced migratory and invasive capability of SK-OV-3 cells, a human EOC cell line. Together, our study reveals that high expression of EAPP may indicate poor prognosis and play an essential role in EOC progression. EAPP may, therefore, serve as a potential biomarker and a novel therapeutic target for EOC patients.