LSD1 negatively regulates autophagy through the mTOR signaling pathway in ovarian cancer cells.

ABSTRACT

Lysine-specific demethylase 1 (LSD1) plays a key role in cell proliferation, differentiation and carcinogenesis. In the present study we revealed that LSD1 functioned as an autophagy suppressor in ovarian cancer HO8910 cells. Pharmacological inhibition or genetic knockdown of LSD1 resulted in the elevation of the LC3­II protein, enhancement of autophagosomal formation and stimulation of the autophagic flux. In addition, knockdown of LSD1 further promoted the serum starvation- and rapamycin-induced autophagy. Furthermore, we demonstrated that LSD1 regulated autophagy via the mTOR signaling pathway. Collectively, our findings identified LSD1 as a novel negative regulator of autophagy through the mTOR signaling pathway in ovarian cancer HO8910 cells and indicated that LSD1 may function as a driving factor of ovarian cancer progression via deregulating autophagy.