Catechol-O-methyltransferase attenuates invasive potential by upregulating desmogleins and is associated with better prognosis in ovarian cancer

This study aims to elucidate the molecular mechanisms by which COMT suppresses cell invasion and to evaluate its significance as a prognostic marker. We performed transcriptome analysis (RNA-seq) on ovarian cancer cells to identify downstream targets of COMT.

Our results show that COMT overexpression significantly inhibits cell invasion in an estrogen-independent manner. Integrative analysis of RNA-seq and CE-MS metabolome data revealed that COMT upregulates desmoglein genes (DSG1-3), thereby strengthening cell-to-cell contact, and induces metabolic remodeling. These findings suggest that COMT suppresses metastasis by regulating cell adhesion and metabolism, serving as a potential prognostic marker and therapeutic target in ovarian cancer.