Epigenetic repression of PDZ-LIM domain-containing protein 2 promotes ovarian cancer via NOS2-derived nitric oxide signaling

Ovarian cancer constitutes one of the most lethal gynaecological malignancies worldwide and currently no satisfactory therapeutic approaches have been established. Therefore, elucidation of molecular mechanisms to develop targeted therapy of ovarian cancer is crucial. PDLIM2 is critical to promote ubiquitination of nuclear p65 and thus its role in inflammation has been highlighted recently. We demonstrate that PDLIM2 is decreased in both ovarian high-grade serous carcinoma and in various human ovarian cancer cell lines compared with normal ovary tissues and human ovarian surface epithelial cells (HOSE). Further functional analysis revealed that PDLIM2 is epigenetically repressed in ovarian cancer development and inhibition of PDLIM2 promoted ovarian cancer growth both in vivo and in vitro via NOS2-derived nitric oxide signaling, leading to recruitment of M2 type macrophages. These results suggest that PDLIM2 might be involved in ovarian cancer pathogenesis, which could serve as a promising therapeutic target for ovarian cancer patients.