RESUMO
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To identify potential miRNA involved in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) invasion and metastasis.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>miRNA microarray was applied to compare the miRNA expression profile between SKOV-3ip and SKOV-3 cells. Bioinformatics programs (TargetScan, MicroCosm, PicTar and GO) were used to analyze the miRNA and their potential target genes. Real-time RT-PCR was used to confirm the results of microarray and for expanding detection in another paired EOC cell lines (HO-8910 and HO-8910PM).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Totally, expressions of 42 miRNA were found significantly different between SKOV-3ip and SKOV-3 cells. Among them, 10 miRNA were down-regulated, including let-7a, let-7f, miR-22 and miR-886-5p; while 32 were up-regulated, for example, let-7e and miR-519e. Bioinformatic analysis indicated that let-7a, let-7e, let-7f, miR-22 and miR-886-5p may be involved in cancer invasion and metastasis. Meanwhile, real-time RT-PCR confirmation and statistic analysis showed that let-7f and miR-22 expressions were significantly different between ovarian cancer cell lines with various invasive and metastatic capacity (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The expression of let-7f and miR-22 is low in ovarian cancer cells with high invasive and metastatic capacity. It suggests that they are potential tumor suppressor genes. Further research on their role and mechanism is needed.</p>