Analysis of Competitive Endogenous Mechanism and Survival Prognosis of Serum Exosomes in Ovarian Cancer Patients Based on Sequencing Technology and Bioinformatics

Background: We determined the competitive endogenous in serum exosomes of ovarian cancer patients via sequencing technology and raw signal analysis. We performed an in-depth study of the potential mechanisms of ovarian cancer, predicted potential therapeutic targets and performed survival analysis of the potential targets. Methods: Serum exosomes from three ovarian cancer patients were used as the experimental group, serum exosomes from three patients with uterine fibroids were used as the control group, and whole transcriptome analysis of serum exosomes was performed to identify differentially expressed long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) and mRNAs in ovarian cancer. The miRcode database and miRNA target gene prediction website were used to predict the target genes. Cytoscape software was used to generate a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network of competitive endogenous mechanism of serum exosomes in ovarian cancer, and the R language was used for Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses of the target genes. Finally, the TCGA website was used to download clinical and expression data related to ovarian cancer, and the common potential target genes obtained previously were analyzed for survival. Results: A total of 117 differentially expressed lncRNAs as well as 513 differentially expressed mRNAs (p < 0.05, |log2 fold change (FC)|≥ 1.0) were obtained by combining sequencing data and raw signal analysis, and 841 predicted target genes were reciprocally mapped by combining the data from the miRcode database and miRNA target gene prediction website, resulting in 11 potential target genes related to ovarian cancer (FGFR3, BMPR1B, TRIM29, FBN2, PAPPA, CCDC58, IGSF3, FBXO10, GPAM, HOXA10, and LHFPL4). Survival analysis of the above 11 target genes revealed that the survival curve was statistically significant (p < 0.05) for HOXA10 but not for the other genes. Through enrichment analysis, we found that the above target genes were mainly involved in biological processes such as regulation of transmembrane receptor protein kinase activity, structural molecule activity with elasticity, transforming growth factor-activated receptor activity, and GABA receptor binding and were mainly enriched in signaling pathways regulating stem cell pluripotency, bladder cancer, glycerolipid metabolism, central carbon metabolism of cancer, and tyrosine stimulation to EGFR in signaling pathways such as resistance to enzyme inhibitors. Conclusions: The serum exosomal DIO3OS-hsa-miR-27a-3p-HOXA10 competitive endogenous signaling axis affects ovarian cancer development and disease survival by targeting dysregulated transcriptional pathways in cancer.