The expression of Duffy antigen receptor for chemokines by epithelial ovarian cancer decreases growth potential

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is one of the main causes of cancer-associated mortality in females with gynecological malignancies. Duffy antigen receptor for chemokines (DARC) has previously been reported to be involved in tumor growth and the inhibition of tumor metastasis. However, the association between DARC and EOC remains unknown. The aim of the present study was to investigate the expression of DARC in the SKOV3 human epithelial ovarian cancer cell line with the establishment of a subcutaneous model in nude mice. To investigate the effects of DARC on the tumorigenesis of human epithelial ovarian cancer cells, GV287-DARC-L.V lentiviral vectors containing a DARC overexpression construct were transfected into SKOV3 cells. The present study revealed that transfection with DARC reduced the viability of SKOV3 cells in vitro by performing an MTT assay. SKOV3-DARC and SKOV3-negative control (NC) cells cultured in vitro were injected into nude mice to establish a subcutaneous model. The ovarian tumor volumes and the tumor weights were observed. Immunohistochemistry to detect CD31 expression was used to determine the microvessel density (MVD) in SKOV3-DARC and SKOV3-NC tumors. The results of the present study revealed that DARC-induced inhibition of tumor growth was associated with MVD in xenograft tumors. This suggested that DARC was a negative regulator of tumor growth in EOC, primarily via the inhibition of tumor angiogenesis.