Zhang, YueZhao, Fu-JunChen, Li-LanWang, Luo-QiaoNephew, Kenneth P.Wu, Ying-LiZhang, Shu2016-06-302016-06-302014-12-15Zhang, Y., Zhao, F.-J., Chen, L.-L., Wang, L.-Q., Nephew, K. P., Wu, Y.-L., & Zhang, S. (2014). MiR-373 targeting of the Rab22a oncogene suppresses tumor invasion and metastasis in ovarian cancer. Oncotarget, 5(23), 12291–12303.https://hdl.handle.net/1805/10277Metastasis is major cause of mortality in patients with ovarian cancer. MiR-373 has been shown to play pivotal roles in tumorigenesis and metastasis; however, a role for miR-373 in ovarian cancer has not been investigated. In this study, we show that the miR-373 expression is down-regulated in human epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) and inversely correlated with clinical stage and histological grade. Ectopic overexpression of miR-373 in human EOC cells suppressed cell invasion in vitro and metastasis in vivo, and the epithelial-mesenchymal transition process. Silencing the expression of miR-373 resulted in an increased migration and invasion of EOC cells. Using integrated bioinformatics analysis, gene expression arrays, and luciferase assay, we identified Rab22a as a direct and functional target of miR-373 in EOC cells. Expression levels of miR-373 were inversely correlated with Rab22a protein levels in human EOC tissues. Rab22a knockdown inhibited invasion and migration of EOC cells, increased E-cadherin expression, and suppressed the expression of N-cadherin. Moreover, overexpression of Rab22a abrogated miR-373-induced invasion and migration of EOC cells. Taken together, these results demonstrate that miR-373 suppresses EOC invasion and metastasis by directly targeting Rab22a gene, a new potential therapeutic target in EOC.en-USAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesOvarian cancermiR-373Rab22aInvasionMetastasisArticle