Ovarian cancer is a prevalent female
malignancy affecting the health and life of an increasing population of women around the world.
Paclitaxel (PTX) resistance is a significant clinical problem in the treatment of
ovarian cancer. However, the regulation mechanism of PTX resistance remains unclear. In this investigation, we reported an innovative function of the
long noncoding RNA RMRP in promoting PTX resistance and glycolysis of
ovarian cancer cells. We observed that RMRP was highly expressed in the
ovarian cancer samples, in which the expression of RMRP was elevated in the PTX-resistant patients compared with the PTX-sensitive patients. Meanwhile, RMRP was upregulated in PTX-resistant
ovarian cancer cell lines. Functionally, we found that the silencing of RMRP by
siRNA significantly enhanced the PTX sensitivity of PTX-resistant
ovarian cancer cells, in which the IC50 of PTX was reduced by RMRP depletion. The RMRP knockdown reduced cell viabilities and enhanced cell apoptosis of PTX-resistant
ovarian cancer cells. Moreover, we observed that
glucose uptake was enhanced in PTX-resistant
ovarian cancer cells. The depletion of RMRP decreased
glucose uptake,
lactate product, and
ATP production in PTX-resistant
ovarian cancer cells. About the mechanism, we identified that RMRP was able to sponge miR-580-3p to enhance mitochondrial
calcium uptake 1 (MICU1) expression in PTX-resistant
ovarian cancer cells. MICU1 overexpression and miR-580-3p repression could reverse the RMRP-inhibited proliferation of PTX-resistant
ovarian cancer cells in vitro. Thus, we concluded that RMRP contributes to PTX resistance and glycolysis of
ovarian cancer by enhancing MICU1 expression through sponging miR-580-3p. Targeting RMRP may serve as a potential therapeutic strategy for the treatment of PTX-resistant
ovarian cancer patients.