Ikaros inhibits proliferation and, through upregulation of Slug, increases metastatic ability of ovarian serous adenocarcinoma cells

The transcription factor Ikaros was originally found to function as a key regulator of lymphocyte differentiation. In this study, we provide the first evidence that Ikaros is expressed at higher levels in ovarian cancer tissues compared with normal ovarian tissues and is significantly associated with high FIGO stage and low differentiation state in ovarian serous adenocarcinoma. To this end, we transfected IK1 (full length of Ikaros) into the SKOV3 ovarian cancer cell line and examined cell biological behaviors including proliferation, migration and invasion. We found that overexpression of IK1 inhibited cell proliferation by inducing G1 arrest, accompanied by the upregulation of P27 and P21 and downregulation of cyclin D1 and D2. On the other hand, IK1 increased the migration and invasion of ovarian cancer cells, as assessed by scratch-wound assay, transwell migration assay, and invasion assay. Overexpression of IK1 significantly increased Slug but not Snail1 expression at both mRNA and protein levels. It also downregulated and upregulated E-cadherin and MMP-2, two target genes of Slug involved in migration, respectively. Furthermore, knocking down Slug abrogated IK1-mediated increase in migration and invasion. These data suggest that Slug plays an important role in IK1-induced migration and invasion. In conclusion, we show for the first time that IK1 plays a dual role in the proliferation, migration and invasion of ovarian cancer cells, providing new insights into their metastasis.