Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) comprises multiple disease states representing a variety of distinct tumors that, irrespective of tissue of origin, genetic aberrations and pathological features, share common patterns of dissemination to the peritoneal cavity. EOC peritoneal dissemination is a stepwise process that includes the formation of malignant outgrowths that detach and establish widespread peritoneal metastases through adhesion to serosal membranes. The cell biology associated with outgrowth formation, detachment, and de novo adhesion is at the nexus of diverse genetic backgrounds that characterize the disease. Development of treatment for metastatic disease will require detailed characterization of cellular processes involved in each step of EOC peritoneal dissemination. This article offers a review of the literature that relates to the current stage of knowledge about distinct steps of EOC peritoneal dissemination, with emphasis on the cell biology aspects of the process.

Taurine, a non-proteogenic amino acid and commonly used nutritional supplement, can protect various tissues from degeneration associated with the action of the DNA-damaging chemotherapeutic agent cisplatin. Whether and how taurine protects human ovarian cancer (OC) cells from DNA damage caused by cisplatin is not well understood. We found that OC ascites-derived cells contained significantly more intracellular taurine than cell culture-modeled OC. In culture, elevation of intracellular taurine concentration to OC ascites-cell-associated levels suppressed proliferation of various OC cell lines and patient-derived organoids, reduced glycolysis, and induced cell protection from cisplatin. Taurine cell protection was associated with decreased DNA damage in response to cisplatin. A combination of RNA sequencing, reverse-phase protein arrays, live-cell microscopy, flow cytometry, and biochemical validation experiments provided evidence for taurine-mediated induction of mutant or wild-type p53 binding to DNA, activation of p53 effectors involved in negative regulation of the cell cycle (p21), and glycolysis (TIGAR). Paradoxically, taurine’s suppression of cell proliferation was associated with activation of pro-mitogenic signal transduction including ERK, mTOR, and increased mRNA expression of major DNA damage-sensing molecules such as DNAPK, ATM and ATR. While inhibition of ERK or p53 did not interfere with taurine’s ability to protect cells from cisplatin, suppression of mTOR with Torin2, a clinically relevant inhibitor that also targets DNAPK and ATM/ATR, broke taurine’s cell protection. Our studies implicate that elevation of intracellular taurine could suppress cell growth and metabolism, and activate cell protective mechanisms involving mTOR and DNA damage-sensing signal transduction.

Background: The role of extracellular matrix adhesion components in modulation of the treatment sensitivity of ovarian cancer (OC) cells is not well understood. Methods and Results: Analysis of ovarian cancer TCGA gene expression datasets revealed an inverse correlation between genes involved in cell-cycle progression and extracellular matrix interactions, including laminin-binding receptor integrin β4, a major component of extracellular matrix adhesion. Gene ontology analysis also showed that in patient populations with low ITGB4 expression, cell cycle-related programs were activated, while in populations with high expression of ITGB4, the activation of these cell cycle programs was lower. Suppression of proliferation with the CDK4/6 inhibitor Palbociclib stimulated integrin β4 expression and induced protection against Cisplatin in cells naturally expressing low levels of integrin β4. Additionally, ovarian cancer patient-derived organoids showed reduced Cisplatin sensitivity when pretreated with Palbociclib. Our data also showed that integrin β4 overexpression decreased ovarian cancer cell proliferation and at the same time, attenuated Cisplatin response. Conclusions: In summary, our investigations support the idea that integrin β4, and likely its matrix ligands, play critical roles in the regulation of cellular growth and the chemoresistance of ovarian cancer cells.