LAMA3 DNA methylation and transcriptome changes associated with chemotherapy resistance in ovarian cancer

OBJECTIVE: LAMA3 is a widely studied methylated gene in multiple tumors, but the relationship between chemotherapy resistance in ovarian cancer is unclear. In this study, LAMA3 methylation was predicted by bioinformatics, and the ability of LAMA3 methylation to predict the chemotherapy resistance and prognosis of ovarian cancer was confirmed in experiments. METHODS: Multiple databases have performed the bioinformatics analysis of methylation and transcription factor binding site (TFBS) on the promoter region of LAMA3 gene. Pyrosequencing detected the methylation of LAMA3. QRT-PCR and immunohistochemistry detected the expression of LAMA3. Real Time Cell Analyzer (RTCA) detects changes in cell proliferation, migration and invasion ability. Flow cytometry was used to detect apoptosis. RESULTS: CPG islands of 176 bp, 134 bp, 125 bp and 531 bp were predicted in the promoter region of LAMA3 gene. The 4 prediction results are basically overlapped. 7 transcription factor binding sites were predicted, and the one with the highest score was on the predicted CpG island located in the proximal promoter region. LAMA3 hypermethylation and low expression are both associated with chemotherapy resistance and poor prognosis in ovarian cancer. LAMA3 methylation was negatively correlated with expression. After upregulation of LAMA3, the proliferation ability of chemoresistant ovarian cancer cell decreased, while the ability of apoptosis, invasion and migration increased. CONCLUSION: LAMA3 hypermethylation is associated with chemotherapy resistance and poor prognosis. As a typical CpG island gene, LAMA3(cg20937934) and LAMA3(cg13270625) hypermethylation is negatively correlated with low expression. LAMA3 promotes the invasion, migration and apoptosis of SKOV3DDP. In the future, the mechanism of LAMA3 methylation in ovarian cancer will need to be further studied. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13048-021-00807-y.