Sucrose Non-Fermenting Related Kinase Expression in Ovarian Cancer and Correlation with Clinical Features

ABSTRACT

Sucrose non-fermenting related kinase (SNRK) is a serine/threonine kinase known to regulate cellular metabolism and adipocyte inflammation. Since alterations in adipocyte metabolism play a role in ovarian cancer metastasis, we investigated the expression of SNRK in benign and malignant human ovarian tissue using immunohistochemistry and qPCR. The number of SNRK positive (+) nuclei is increased in malignant tissue compared to benign tissue (21.03% versus 14.90%, p < .0431). The most strongly stained malignant SNRK+ nuclei were stage 1 compared to stage 2–4 disease. Differential expression of SNRK in early versus late stage disease suggests specific roles for SNRK in ovarian cancer metastasis.

KEYWORDS:

• Ovarian cancer
• Cancer biomarkers
• Invasion & metastasis

Acknowledgments

The authors thank members of the Developmental Vascular Biology Program, the GYN/ONC focus groups in the Department of OBGYN, and OBGYN research groups for their critical input in this study.

Declaration of interest

R.R. and E.B. are supported by Women's Health Research Funds from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at MCW. S.C. and R.R. are partially supported from HL102745 and HL112639. E.B. is also supported by donations from the Laura's Smile Foundation and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, through Grant Number 8KL2TR000056 as well as Grant Number UL1TR001436 from the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) program of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.