Role of endoplasmic reticulum stress and autophagy mediated by endocannabinoid N-arachidonic acid aminoethanol in ovarian cancer cells

AIM To study the effect of endocannabinoid N-arachidonic acid aminoethanol （AEA） on ovarian cancer and its mechanism. METHODS The serum levels of AEA in healthy control group and ovarian cancer group were analyzed by ELISA， and the diagnostic value of AEA in ovarian cancer patients was evaluated by ROC curve. The effects of AEA on the viability， migration and invasion abilities of the ovarian cancer cells were detected by CCK-8 assay， Transwell cell invasion test and Scratch test. The effect of AEA on ovarian cancer was further verified by the measurement of tumor volume， tumor weight and visual map of tumor tissue. Meanwhile， flow cytometry and Western blot were used to determine the effect of AEA on the apoptosis of ovarian cancer cells， so as to explore the mechanism of AEA promoting the apoptosis of ovarian cancer cells through detecting the endoplasmic reticulum stress and autophagy related proteins by Western blot. RESULTS The serum levels of N-arachidonic aminoethanol in the patients with ovarian cancer were significantly decreased. ROC results suggested that AEA was a sensitive biological marker to distinguish the patients with ovarian cancer from healthy dedividuals. In addition， AEA inhibited the cell viability， migration and invasion abilities of ovarian cancer cells， and inhibited the growth of ovarian cancer tissues. CONCLUSION By promoting endoplasmic reticulum stress and affecting autophagy of ovarian cancer cells， AEA promotes apoptosis of ovarian cancer cells.