Abstract 6995: Functional characterization of the novel cell adhesion molecule MPZL3 in ovarian cancer
Authors: Cheng Ya-Yun , Worley Beth , Javed Zaineb , Elhaw Amal T. , Tang Priscilla W. , Hempel Nadine 
Published: March 2024

Ovarian cancer (OVCA) is the most lethal gynecological malignancy in the United States often detected at advanced stages. OVCA progression involves transcoelomic metastasis, where cells disseminate into the peritoneal fluid, adhere to form multicellular aggregates that promote anchorage-independent survival and facilitate metastatic colonization of the peritoneum. To meet the requirements of each stage of this detachment, aggregation, and re-attachment cycle, OVCA cells have been shown to dynamically regulate the expression of multiple cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) throughout their progression. Moreover, targeting cell-cell adhesion molecules has shown to be an effective method to slow/inhibit the progression of OVCA. In this study, we characterize the novel role of the understudied CAM MPZL3 in OVCA. Myelin protein zero-like 3 (MPZL3) is a transmembrane protein with homology to other immunoglobulin-like (Ig) family of CAMs. While it has been reported that altered Ig-CAM expression plays a role in ovarian cancer, the function of MPZL3 has not been investigated. Interestingly, TCGA data demonstrates that chromosomal loss of the MPZL3 locus (11q23.3) is frequently detected in several cancer types, including 22% of clear cell and 30% of high grade serous ovarian cancers (HGSOC), implying that loss of genes located in this area has tumorigenic consequences. On the other hand, few studies showed that MPZL3 contains an oncogenic potential in breast and MET-amplified cancer cell lines, suggesting that the role of MPZL3 in cancer is context dependent. To study the function of MPZL3 in OVCA, we used shRNA mediated MPZL3 knockdown in OVCAR4 human HGSOC cells and examined transcriptome-wide effects by RNA-sequencing. The subsequent Gene Set Enrichment Analysis indicated that pathways involved in regulating cell growth, death, adhesion, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition were significantly altered by loss of MPZL3. To validate the candidate pathways, we knocked down or over-expressed MPZL3 in OVCA cells to test its importance in regulating OVCA cell growth, apoptosis, adhesion, and migration. We found that loss of MPZL3 resulted in decreased cell growth with a concomitant resistance to both Cisplatin and Olaparib treatments, both of which are commonly used for treating OVCA. Moreover, we show that knockdown of MPZL3 alters the homotypic adhesive-capacity of OVCA cells. Ongoing studies are underway to further characterize the role played by MPLZ3 in the mentioned contexts. Additionally, to elucidate the underlying molecular mechanism and identify novel interactors of MPZL3, we will conduct co-immunoprecipitation experiments in OVCA cells expressing V5-tagged MPZL3. Understanding the novel role of MPZL3 will provide further insight into OVCA progression, thus generating opportunities of developing new treatments for patients with low MPZL3 expression as an approach for precision cancer medicine.

Citation Format: Ya-Yun Cheng, Beth Worley, Zaineb Javed, Amal T. Elhaw, Priscilla W. Tang, Nadine Hempel. Functional characterization of the novel cell adhesion molecule MPZL3 in ovarian cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 6995.