Objective To investigate the effects of lysine-specific demethylation 1 (LSD1) on the proliferation and metastasis of ovarian cancer cells by regulating Foxo3a.

Methods In test group A, the human ovarian cancer cell line HO8910 (HO8910-LSD1-shRNA) with inducible stable knockdown of LSD1 expressions were divided into the observation groups and the control group. The expression levels of LSD1 and Foxo3a proteins were detected by Western blot. Then in test group B, the HO8910-LSD1-shRNA cells were divided into Control group, Dox group, A6730 group and Dox+A6730 group. The cell proliferation inhibition rate of each group was detected by CCK-8, and the metastasis levels of each group were detected by Transwell assay. The EMT-related proteins expressions were detected by Western blot.

Results In test group A, with the increasing Dox concentration in the observation groups, the expression level of LSD1 protein was gradually decreased, while the expression level of Foxo3a protein was gradually increased. In test group B, compared with the control group, the proliferation inhibition rates, cell migration rates of Dox group, A6730 group and combination group were significantly lower (P < 0.05); cell proliferation inhibition rate and cell migration rate of the Dox+A6730 group were significantly lower than those of Dox group (both P < 0.05). Compared with the control group, the expression levels of E-cadherin protein in Dox group, A6730 group and combination group were increased significantly, while the levels of N-cadherin and Snail protein were decreased. Compared with Dox and A6730 groups, the expression of E-cadherin was increased, while the expression of N-cadherin and Snail were decreased in the combination group.

Conclusion Knocking down the expression of LSD1 gene could upregulate the transcription factor Foxo3a protein level, thereby inhibiting the proliferation metastasis of ovarian cancer HO8910 cells.