Validation of ESM1 Related to Ovarian Cancer and the Biological Function and Prognostic Significance by Bioinformatics Analysis and Experimental Verification

Background: Ovarian cancer (OC), a serious gynecological malignant disease, remains an enormous challenge in early diagnosis and medical treatment. Based on GEO and TCGA database by R language, Endothelial cell-specific molecule 1 (ESM1) were confirmed separately on the tool of bioinformatic analysis. ESM1 has been demonstrated that up-regulated in multiple cancer types, but the oncogenetic mechanism of ESM1 in promoting OC is still largely unknown. Methods: In the study, we used WGCNA network and Random survival forest variable screening to filtered out ESM1 in OC differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Next, we confirmed the mRNA and protein levels of ESM1 in OC samples via PCR and IHC. The correlation between ESM1 level and clinical data of OC patients were further confirmed, including FIGO stage, lymph node metastasis, and recurrence. The role of ESM1 in OC development were explored by several functional experimentations in vivo and in vitro. Then, the molecular mechanisms of ESM1 was further elucidated by bioinformatic end experimental analysis. Results: ESM1 was significantly up-regulated in OC, which positively with PFS but negatively with OS. ESM1 knockdown inhibited cell proliferation, apoptosis escaping, cell cycle, angiogenesis migration and invasion via multiple experiments. Moreover, GSVA analysis found that ESM1 was associated with the Akt pathway, and our results also supported the prediction. Conclusion: ESM1 was closely correlated with OC development and progression, and it could be considered a novel biomarker and therapeutic target for OC patients. Funding Statement: None. Declaration of Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest. Ethics Approval Statement: The study protocol was in line with the ethical guidelines of the 1975 Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the research ethics committee of University of South China and the research ethics committee of Shenzhen University. Informed consent to participate in the study. was obtained from each patient that was recruited