Ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynecologic malignancy due to the lack of symptoms until advanced stages, and new diagnosis and treatment strategy is in urgent need. In this study, we found higher expression of miR‐19a‐3p in ovarian cancer tissues compared with that in the adjacent normal tissues. By chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) analysis, we showed that nuclear factor‐kappaB (NF‐κB) binds to the promoter of miR‐19a‐3p, leading to reduced expression in ovarian cancer cells. Further study indicated that miR‐19a‐3p inhibits the expression of insulin‐like growth factor binding protein‐3 (IGFBP‐3), resulting in enhanced growth and migration of ovarian cancer cells in vitro and tumor growth in vivo. These results showed that miR‐19a‐3p enhances the oncogenesis of ovarian cancer through inhibition of IGFBP‐3 expression, and which can be inhibited by NF‐κB, suggesting an NF‐κB/miR‐19a‐3p/IGFBP‐3 pathway in the oncogenesis of ovarian cancer, which expands our understanding of ovarian cancer and they may contribute to the development of new diagnosis and treatment of ovarian cancer.

miRNAs are involved in the tumorigenesis of various malignancies. In the current study, we found that miR-194-5p expression is downregulated in ovarian cancer tissues, and downregulation of miR-194-5p expression promotes proliferation, invasion and migration of human ovarian cancer cells in vitro and ovarian tumor growth in nude mice. We further found that IGF1R and PPFIBP are targets of miR-194-5p, and downregulation of miR-194-5p expression increases IGF1R and PPFIBP expression, resulting in increased proliferation, invasion and migration of ovarian cancer cells. Moreover, we showed that NF-κB can bind to the promoter region of miR-194-5p, and negatively regulate the expression of miR-194-5p in ovarian cancer cells. Taken together, our results suggested a NF-κB modulated miR-194-5p/IGF1R/ PPFIBP axis that is crucial for the tumorigenesis of ovarian cancer, which provides a new insight into the development of ovarian cancer.

As an integral component of the surgical staging system, lymphadenectomy for patients with endometrial cancer (EC) remains controversial, particularly in clinical stage I disease that includes not only low-risk, but also high-risk subgroups. In order to maximize the therapeutic effect of lymph node excision for high-risk patients who can potentially obtain survival benefits from it while minimizing its reverse effects in low-risk patients, pre-operative risk stratification of lymph node metastasis is necessary. The upregulation of microRNA-205 (miR-205) in carcinoma of the endometrium has been consistently reported recently and has been found to correlate with poor survival. The current study aimed to investigate whether the overexpression of miR-205 in curettage samples of EC could identify patients who are at a high risk for lymph node metastasis prior to surgery and validate the role of miR-205 as a prognostic marker in EC. Relative quantification detection of miR-205 in curettage and hysterectomy specimens of patients with EC was performed. Prediction of lymph node metastasis based on miR-205 expression, as well as tumor type and grade in curettage samples, was performed for all EC patients and patients with clinical stage I disease. Moreover, survival analysis was conducted. It was observed that miR-205 was significantly and consistently elevated in the curettage and hysterectomy samples of EC relative to normal controls. Furthermore, the overexpression of miR-205 could predict lymph node metastasis with a high accuracy and was revealed again to be associated with a poor prognosis in EC. Prospective and multicentric studies are required to further clarify the value of miR-205 as a promising predictor to stratify risk for lymph node metastasis in EC.