Transcriptome analysis of leptin on OVCAR8 cells

Elevated levels of leptin in the blood, the increased expression of leptin receptor (LEPR) in tumor cells, and a high leptin to adiponectin ratio in patients with ovarian cancer are linked to a poorer prognosis. Recent research has investigated the connection between leptin and ovarian cancer, revealing the role of leptin in promoting proliferation, invasion, metastasis, and chemotherapy resistance in ovarian cancer cells. Moreover, leptin was shown to contribute to maintaining the stemness phenotype of ovarian cancer stem cells (OCSCs) and enhancing tumor metastasis potential. However, the specific downstream targets that is responsible for the regulation that potentiates leptin-induced stemness maintenance in OCSCs has not been conclusively identified. Overall design: To identify the key downstream markers of leptin- driven stemness maintenance in human ovarian cancer, we analyzed genes that showed altered gene expression at the transcription level before and after leptin treatment. OVCAR8 cells were serum starved overnight and then treated with 100 ng/ml leptin for 24 h, after which transcriptome sequencing was performed to obtain differently expressed genes (DEGs) after leptin treatment.