Background: Ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynaecological malignancy and the sixth most common cause of cancer-related deaths in Australian women. More than two thirds of the patients are at stage III or IV upon first diagnosis, and more than 70% of them are likely to have disease recurrence within 12 to 18 months with some degree of resistance to platin-based first-line of chemotherapy. Recent genomic studies have shown that 70% of the human genome is transcribed into RNA, and only a small proportion codes for proteins. The RNAs that do not code for proteins are broadly grouped into ‘small’ or ‘long’ non-coding RNAs based on the arbitrary cutoff value of 200 nucleotides. Roles of some small non-coding RNAs such as microRNAs (~20 nucleotides) have now been well established. However, the role of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNA) is, for the most part, poorly understood. 

Aim: To identify lncRNAs associated with cisplatin resistance in epithelial ovarian cancer cell lines.

 Methods: Cisplatin-sensitive A2780 and PEO1 and their cisplatin-resistant counterparts A2780-cisR and PEO4 cell-lines were cultured to 80% confluency in 6 well plates. Total RNA was extracted using the RNeasy Mini kit (Qiagen). Reverse transcription and the expression of 90 cancer-associated lncRNAs were carried out using the Human LncProfiler qPCR Array (System Biosciences). Each cell-line was profiled in 3 biological replicates and 1 qPCR/lncRNA/replicate. Expression of each lncRNA was normalised to   GAPDH   using the ΔΔC_t method in the Data Assist software. Comparison of lncRNA profiles of the cisplatin-sensitive cell-lines with the drug resistant cell-lines identified putative lncRNAs responsible for chemoresistance.

Results & Conclusion:

Data will be presented showing lncRNAs that were differentially expressed between parental and cisplatin resistant ovarian cancer cell lines. These lncRNAs will be further characterised for their potential role in chemoresistance.