Potential role of HGF-PARP-1 signaling in invasion of ovarian cancer cells

We investigated the effects and signaling pathways involved in both HGF-mediated regulation of PARP-1 expression and the invasion ability of ovarian cancer cells. Using a transwell assay, the invasiveness of SKOV-3 cells was tested by incubating them with increasing concentrations of HGF. The relative expression levels of PARP-1 after HGF treatment were analyzed by Real-Time PCR and western blotting. SKOV3 cells were transfected with either negative control siRNA or PARP-1 siRNA, and were divided into different groups as follows: control group; HGF group; PARP-siRNA group; HGF+PARP-siRNA group; NC-siRNA group; and HGF+NC-siRNA group. Western blotting was employed to measure the expression of PARP-1 in the different groups. Transwell tests were used to examine invasiveness. ELISA was applied to measure MMP-2 expression. HGF promotes cell invasion in a concentration-and time-dependent manner in SKOV-3 cells. The expression levels of PARP-1 increased after administration of 40 ng/ml HGF for 24 h. The expression of PARP-1 in the PARP1-siRNA group was lower compared with that in the NC-siRNA group (P < 0.05); PARP1-siRNA transfection significantly reduced the impact of HGF on invasiveness and MMP-2 expression in SKOV-3 cells. HGF promotes the invasiveness and metastasis of ovarian cancer cells. This effect could be related to the induction of increased expression levels of MMP-2 mediated by PARP-1.