Human amniotic epithelial cells inhibit growth of epithelial ovarian cancer cells via TGF-β1-mediated cell cycle arrest

It is reported that human amniotic epithelial cells (hAECs) endow intrinsic antitumor effects on certain kinds of cancer. This research was designed to evaluate whether hAECs endowed potential anticancer properties on epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) cells in vivo and in vitro, which has not been reported before. In this study, we established a xenografted BALB/c nude mouse model by subcutaneously co-injecting ovarian cancer cell line, SK-OV-3, and hAECs for 28 days. In ex vivo experiments, CCK-8 cell viability assay, real-time PCR, cell counting assay, cell cycle analysis and immunohistochemistry (IHC) assay were used to detect the effects of hAEC-secreted factors on the proliferation and cell cycle progression of EOC cells. A cytokine array was conducted to detect anticancer-related cytokines released from hAECs. Human recombinant TGF-β1 and TGF-β1 antibody were used to treat EOC cells and analyzed whether TGF-β1 contributed to the cell cycle arrest. Results from in vivo and ex vivo experiments showed that hAEC-secreted factors and rhTGF-β1 decreased proliferation of EOC cells and induced G0/G1 cell cycle arrest in cancer cells, which could be partially reversed by excess TGF-β1 antibody. These data indicate that hAECs endow potential anticancer properties on epithelial ovarian cancer in vivo and in vitro which is partially mediated by hAEC-secreted TGF-β1-induced cell cycle arrest. This study suggests a potential application of hAEC-based therapy against epithelial ovarian cancer.