Actin-like Protein 6A Expression Correlates with Cancer Stem Cell-like Features and Poor Prognosis in Ovarian Cancer

Sep 24, 2026

Ovarian cancer remains highly lethal, frequently diagnosed at a late stage and lacking effective targeted therapy. By integrating cancer stem cell (CSC) related features and comparative gene-expression datasets from GEO, this study identifies common differentially expressed genes and links them with prognosis using TCGA. Expression of 11 genetic markers rises in invasive, chemoresistant tumors, and ACTL6A is associated with shorter overall survival. Mechanistically, ACTL6A enriches cell-cycle pathways, reduces focal-adhesion signatures, and suggests potential benefit from the HER2 inhibitor CP724714 in ACTL6A-high ovarian cancer.

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1. Introduction

Article Actin-like Protein 6A Expression Correlates with Cancer Stem Cell-like Features and Poor Prognosis in Ovarian Cancer Po-Ming Chen 1,†, Chui-Nguk Wong 2,†, Chui-Na Wong 2 and Pei-Yi Chu 3,4,5,6, * Citation: Chen, P.-M.; Wong, C.-N.; Wong, C.-N.; Chu, P.-Y. Actin-like Protein 6A Expression Correlates with Cancer Stem Cell-like Features and Poor Prognosis in Ovarian Cancer. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24, 2016 . [https://doi.org/10.3390/](https://doi.org/10.3390/)[ ](https://doi.org/10.3390/)ijms24032016 Academic Editor: Steffen H. Hauptmann Received: 28 December 2022 Revised: 12 January 2023 Accepted: 16 January 2023 Published: 19 January 2023 Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ([https://](https://)[ ](https://)[creativecommons.org/licenses/by/](creativecommons.org/licenses/by/)[ ](creativecommons.org/licenses/by/)[4.0/](4.0/)) . 1 Research Assistant Center, Show Chwan Memorial Hospital, Changhua 500, Taiwan 2 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Show Chwan Memorial Hospital, Changhua 500, Taiwan 3 Department of Post-Baccalaureate Medicine, College of Medicine, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 402, Taiwan 4 Department of Pathology, Show Chwan Memorial Hospital, Changhua 500, Taiwan 5 School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Fu Jen Catholic University, New Taipei 242, Taiwan 6 National Institute of Cancer Research, National Health Research Institute, Tainan 704, Taiwan * Correspondence: chu.peiyi@msa.hinet.net; Tel.: +886-4-7256166 † These authors contributed equally to this work. Abstract: Ovarian cancer has the highest mortality rate among gynecological cancers, often diagnosed at the late stage and lacking an effective targeted therapy. Although the study of malignant features of cancer, considered to be cancer stem cells (CSCs), is emerging, the aim of this study was to predict and explore the possible mechanism and clinical value of genetic markers in the development of ovarian cancer from a combined database with CSCs features. The common differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were selected in GSE185833 and GSE176246 datasets from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) . The GSE185833 dataset was created to reveal gene expression proﬁles of peritoneal metastasis tissues using single-cell sequencing, and the GSE176246 dataset was determined from gene expression proﬁles of chemotherapy-refractory ovarian cancer cell lines compared with ovarian cancer cell lines by RNA-seq analysis. By analyzing the correlation between common DEGs and prognosis of ovarian cancer and its possible pathways and functions were predicted by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. The expression levels of 11 genetic markers were signiﬁcantly elevated in highly invasive and chemoresistant ovarian cancer. The expression of Actin-like protein 6A (ACTL6A) was found tobe correlated with survival prognosis, and the total survival time of the patients with high expression of ACTL6A was shorter than those with low expression. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) showed that ACTL6A positively enriched the gene set of `Cell cycle' and ACTL6A negatively enriched the gene set of focal adhesion. CP724714, a human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) inhibitor, could serve as a therapeutic option when ACTL6A levels are high in ovarian cancer cells. The high expression of ACTL6A is a poor prognostic factor in ovarian cancer and may serve as an effective biomarker for predicting treatment-refractory, metastasis, and prognosis of patients with ovarian cancer. The use of HER2 inhibitors is a promising therapeutic strategy against chemoresistant ovarian cancer. Keywords: ovarian cancer; metastasis; ACTL6A; cell cycle; prognosis; resistance 1. Introduction Ovarian cancer has the highest mortality rate among gynecological malignancies since about 8

FAQs

What is the main clinical problem addressed in this study?

Ovarian cancer has the highest mortality among gynecological cancers, is often diagnosed late, and lacks effective targeted therapy.

How did the study identify gene-related signals linked to prognosis?

It selected common differentially expressed genes from GEO datasets and analyzed correlations with ovarian cancer prognosis and pathways using TCGA.

What prognostic role does ACTL6A expression play in ovarian cancer?

ACTL6A expression is elevated in invasive and chemoresistant ovarian cancer and correlates with worse survival; patients with high ACTL6A have shorter overall survival.

Sep 24, 2026

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