Zinc Finger Protein 24 is a Prognostic Factor in Ovarian Serous Carcinoma

Objective: As a member of the zinc finger protein family, zinc finger protein 24 (ZNF24) contains a Cys2His2 zinc finger domain and acts as a transcription factor. ZNF24 has been reported to be downregulated in gastric cancer and breast cancer. However, little is known about its expression and function in ovarian serous carcinoma (OSC). Patients and Methods: We collected 117 OSC patients during 2011 to 2017 and retrospectively retrieved their clinicopathologic characteristics as well as their survival data. Protein level was analyzed by immunohistochemistry, mRNA level was evaluated by RT-qPCR assay, and transcriptional data was obtained from TCGA data sets. The correlations between ZNF24 expression and patients' features were assessed using chi(2) test. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify the prognosis predicative potential of ZNF24 in OSC. The function of ZNF24 in the epithelial ovarian cancer cells was also verified by in vitro cellular experiments. Results: Among the 117 cases, ZNF24 was downregulated in 52 OSC samples (44.6%) and significantly correlated with tumor stages. According to univariate and multivariate analyses, ZNF24 can act as an independent prognostic indicator for the overall survival of OSC patients, whose lower expression was associated with poorer clinical outcomes. Ectopic overexpression and knockdown assays indicated that ZNF24 can negatively regulate the OSC cell viability. Conclusions: OSC patients with low level of ZNF24 have worse overall survival compared with those possess high-ZNF24 expression. Downregulated ZNF24 may be involved in the proliferation of OSC, and ZNF24 expression can serve as an independent survival predictor.