CircHIPK3 is upregulated and predicts a poor prognosis in epithelial ovarian cancer.

OBJECTIVE: CircRNAs have been recently identified as important regulators in tumors biological functions. However, the clinical significance of circHIPK3 in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) remains unknown.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: The expression of circHIPK3 in EOC tumor tissues and adjacent noncancerous tissues was analyzed by quantitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR). The association between circHIPK3 expression and clinicopathological factors was analyzed by using Chi-square test. Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test were used to analyze the association of circHIPK3 expression with disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) time of EOC patients. Univariate and multivariate Cox analysis was also performed.

RESULTS: We found that circHIPK3 was higher expressed in EOC tissues and cells compared to adjacent normal tissue and ovarian epithelium cell line, respectively. Higher circHIPK3 expression associated with lymph node invasion, FIGO stage, and worse DFS and OS of patients. Moreover, multivariate Cox analysis showed that higher circHIPK3 was an independent predictor of DFS and OS in EOC patients.

CONCLUSIONS: Thus, circHIPK3 may be a novel biomarker for predicting EOC prognosis.