Background: Growth arrest and DNA-damage-inducible 45 beta (GADD45B ) is overexpressed and is associated with poor clinical outcomes in many human cancers, but the clinical implication of GADD45B  in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) remains unclear.
Methods: Bioinformatics analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and gene expression omnibus (GEO) cohorts was used to illustrate the relationship between GADD45B  expression and metastasis, as well as the survival time of EOC. GADD45B  was downregulated by siRNAs in EOC cells, and migration ability was determined by a transwell assay and wound-healing assay. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis and gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) were conducted to discover the downstream pathway of GADD45B . The regulation of epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) by GADD45B was verified by Western blotting and qRT-PCR. Finally, the correlation of GADD45B  expression with EOC metastasis was investigated in EOC tissues by immunohistochemistry.
Results: Overexpression of GADD45B  indicates shorter overall survival time and progression-free survival time, and it is an independent risk factor for poor survival in EOC patients. Elevated GADD45B  is related to venous invasion, lymphatic invasion and peritoneal carcinomatosis. Downregulation of GADD45B decreases the migration of ES2 and SKOV3 cells. Further KEGG enrichment analysis and GSEA revealed that EMT may be the downstream pathway of GADD45B. In addition, reduced GADD45B increases the expression of E-cadherin and decreases that of N-cadherin and vimentin. Finally, immunohistochemical analysis of GADD45B expression revealed that the expression of GADD45B in omental metastatic tissues was higher than that in matched primary ovarian cancer tissues. These results suggest that elevated GADD45B promotes the motility of ovarian cancer cells through EMT and is associated with EOC metastasis.
Conclusion: GADD45B can promote the motility of ovarian cancer cells through EMT, is associated with EOC metastasis, and may be a new biomarker of metastasis and prognosis.
Keywords: epithelial ovarian cancer, GADD45B, metastasis, epithelial–mesenchymal transition