Targeting FXYD2 by cardiac glycosides potently blocks tumor growth in ovarian clear cell carcinoma

Ovarian clear cell carcinoma (OCCC) is an aggressive neoplasm with a high recurrence rate that frequently develops resistance to platinum-based chemotherapy. There are few prognostic biomarkers or targeted therapies exist for patients with OCCC. Here, we identified that FXYD2, the modulating subunit of Na+/K+-ATPases, was highly and specifically expressed in clinical OCCC tissues. The expression levels of FXYD2 were significantly higher in advanced-stage of OCCC and positively correlated with patients' prognoses. Silencing of FXYD2 expression in OCCC cells inhibited Na+/K+-ATPase enzyme activity and suppressed tumor growth via induction of autophagy-mediated cell death. We found that high FXYD2 expression in OCCC was transcriptionally regulated by the transcriptional factor HNF1B. Furthermore, up-regulation of FXYD2 expression significantly increased the sensitivity of OCCC cells to cardiac glycosides, the Na+/K+-ATPase inhibitors. Two cardiac glycosides, digoxin and digitoxin, had a great therapeutic efficacy in OCCC cells in vitro and in vivo. Taken together, our results demonstrate that FXYD2 is functionally upregulated in OCCC and may serve as a promising prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target of cardiac glycosides in OCCC.