The deubiquitinase OTUB2 promotes cervical cancer growth through stabilizing FOXM1.

Objectives: Ovarian tumor (OTU) domain-containing ubiquitin aldehyde-binding protein Otubain2 (OTUB2) is an important cysteine protease with deubiquitinase activity in the OTU family. However, the role of OTUB2 in cervical cancer (CC) has not been investigated.

Methods: OTUB2 expression was analyzed employing the CC data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Western blot and qRT-PCR analysis were performed to identify OTUB2 expression in CC. The oncogenic function of OTUB2 was identified through a series of and experiments. Tandem Mass Tag™ Quantitative Proteomics examination was used to identify potential targets of OTUB2.

Results: OTUB2 was overexpressed in CC and was related to poor prognosis of patients. In our in-house cohort, we also showed that OTUB2 was overexpressed in tumor tissues of CC compared to para-tumor. Knockdown of OTUB2 suppressed CC cell growth whereas OTUB2 upregulation fostered the proliferation of cancer cells. Forkhead box M1 (FOXM1) was found to be a target of OTUB2. FOXM1 can be positively regulated by OTUB2 in CC cells. In human CC tissues, protein level of FOXM1 was positively correlated with OTUB2. FOXM1 was found to play a critical role in OTUB2-mediated CC cell growth. Mechanistically, OTUB2 could bind FOXM1 and deubiquitinate FOXM1 to stabilize it.

Conclusion: OTUB2 promotes CC progression through deubiquitinating and stabilizing FOXM1.