Short-form Ron is a novel determinant of ovarian cancer initiation and progression.

ABSTRACT: Short-form Ron (sfRon) is an understudied, alternative isoform of the full-length Ron receptor tyrosine kinase. In contrast to Ron, which has been shown to be an important player in many cancers, little is known about the role of sfRon in cancer pathogenesis. Here we report the striking discovery that sfRon expression is required for development of carcinogen-induced malignant ovarian tumors in mice. We also show that sfRon is expressed in several subtypes of human ovarian cancer including high-grade serous carcinomas, which is in contrast to no detectable expression in healthy ovaries. In addition, we report that introduction of sfRon into OVCAR3 cells resulted in epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, activation of the PI3K and PDK1 pathway, and inhibition of the MAPK pathway. We demonstr

SUBMITTER: Moxley KM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4979590 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature