The splicing factor SNRPB promotes ovarian cancer progression through regulating aberrant exon skipping of POLA1 and BRCA2.

Splicing factors play a crucial role in the initiation and development of various human cancers. SNRPB, a core spliceosome component, regulates pre-mRNA alternative splicing. However, its function and underlying mechanism in ovarian cancer remain unclear. This study identified SNRPB as a critical driver of ovarian cancer through TCGA and CPTAC database analysis. SNRPB was highly upregulated in fresh frozen ovarian cancer tissues compared with normal fallopian tubes. Immunohistochemistry revealed that SNRPB expression was increased in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded ovarian cancer sections and was positively correlated with a poor prognosis for ovarian cancer. Functionally, SNRPB knockdown suppressed ovarian cancer cell proliferation and invasion, and overexpression exerted opposite effects. SNRPB expression increased after cisplatin treatment, and silencing SNRPB sensitized ovarian cancer cells to cisplatin. KEGG pathway analysis revealed that the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were mainly enriched in DNA replication and homologous recombination, and almost all DEGs related to DNA replication and homologous recombination were downregulated after SNRPB knockdown according to RNA-seq. Exon 3 skipping of the DEGs DNA polymerase alpha 1 (POLA1) and BRCA2 was induced by SNRPB silencing. Exon 3 skipping of POLA1 yielded premature termination codons and led to nonsense-mediated RNA decay (NMD); exon 3 skipping of BRCA2 led to loss of the PALB2 binding domain, which is necessary for homologous recombination, and increased ovarian cancer cell cisplatin sensitivity. POLA1 or BRCA2 knockdown partially impaired the increased malignancy of SNRPB-overexpressing ovarian cancer cells. Moreover, miR-654-5p was found to reduce SNRPB mRNA expression by directly binding to the SNRPB 3'-UTR. Overall, SNRPB was identified as an important oncogenic driver that promotes ovarian cancer progression by repressing exon 3 skipping of POLA1 and BRCA2. Thus, SNRPB is a potential treatment target and prognostic marker for ovarian cancer.