The role of KIF14 in patient-derived primary cultures of high-grade serous ovarian cancer cells

OBJECTIVE: Previously, it has been shown that KIF14 mRNA is overexpressed in ovarian cancer (OvCa), regardless of histological subtype. KIF14 levels are independently predictive of poor outcome and increased rates of recurrence in serous OvCa patients. Furthermore, it has been shown that KIF14 also controls the in vivo tumorigenicity of OvCa cell lines. In this study, we evaluate the potential of KIF14 as a therapeutic target through selective inhibition of KIF14 in primary high-grade serous patient-derived OvCa cells. METHODS: To assess the dependence of primary serous OvCa cultures on KIF14, protein levels in 11 prospective high grade serous ovarian cancer samples were increased (KIF14 overexpression by transfection) or decreased (anti-KIF14 shRNA) in vitro, and proliferative capacity, anchorage independence and xenograft growth were assessed. RESULTS: Seven of eleven samples demonstrated increased/decreased in vitro proliferation in response to KIF14 overexpression/knockdown, respectively. When examining in vitro tumorigenicity (colony formation) and in vivo growth (subcutaneous xenografts) in response to KIF14 manipulation, none of the samples demonstrated growth in soft agar (11 samples), or xenograft growth (4 samples). CONCLUSIONS: Although primary high-grade serous OvCa cells may depend on KIF14 for in vitro proliferation we were unable to demonstrate a role for KIF14 on tumorigenicity or develop an in vivo model for assessment. We have, however developed an effective in vitro method to evaluate the effect of target gene manipulation on the proliferative capacity of primary OvCa cultures. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13048-014-0123-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.