Purpose: Ovarian cancer (OC) has the highest mortality among gynecological malignancies. Therefore, it is urgent to explore prognostic biomarkers to improve the survival of OC patients. One of the most prominent metabolic characteristics of cancer is effective glycolysis. Hexokinase 1 (HK1), as the first rate-limiting enzyme in glycolysis, is closely related to cancer progression. However, the role of HK1 in OC remains unclear.
Materials and Methods: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database was used to detect the expression of HK1  in OC patients. The chi-squared test was performed to examine the correlations between HK1  and patients’ clinical characteristics. Survival analyses were undertaken to determine the relationship between HK1 and patient survival, while the univariate/multivariate Cox model was used to evaluate the role of HK1 in patient prognosis. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) was performed to ascertain the related signaling pathways of HK1. RT-qPCR was implemented to validate the mRNA expression of HK1  in OC cells. MTT was used to detect cell viability after adding 2DG and knocking down HK1  in OC cells. HK1 protein expression was examined by Western blotting. Glucose uptake, lactate production, and ATP assays were undertaken following knockdown of HK1  in OC cells. Colony formation assays were performed to determine OC cell proliferation after HK1  knockdown. Transwell and wound healing assays were carried out to detect the invasion and migration of OC cells after HK1  knockdown.
Results: We found that HK1  expression was increased in OC tissues and cells, and HK1 was related to the clinical characteristics of OC patients. Survival analysis revealed that OC patients in the HK1  overexpression group had poor survival. Moreover, univariant/multivariate analyses showed that HK1  may be an independent biomarker for the poor prognosis of OC patients. OC cell viability and proliferation decreased after knockdown of HK1 . Consistently, glucose uptake, lactic acid production, ATP production, invasion, and migration were also decreased. Finally, GSEA enrichment analysis and Western blotting showed that HK1 was involved in MAPK/ERK signaling.
Conclusion: HK1  may be a biomarker for the poor prognosis of OC patients and a potential therapeutic target.
Keywords: HK1, ovarian cancer, prognosis, glycolysis