Introduction:
Resistin, a novel hormone secreted by human adipocytes and mononuclear cells, is associated with obesity, insulin resistance, and inflammation. Recent studies showed that resistin plays a key role in ovarian cancer cells. In this study, we investigated the potential of resistin to regulate the proliferation and migration of ovarian cancer cells.

Material and methods:
A series of in vitro functional experiments were carried out to elucidate the role of resistin in ovarian cancer progression and the molecular mechanisms underlying its role.

Results:
Resistin enhanced the proliferation of human ovarian epithelial carcinoma cells (HO-8910) in a time- and dose-dependent manner (30–100 ng/ml). Furthermore, HO-8910 cells cultured in adipocyte-conditioned medium showed dramatically increased rates of proliferation. Resistin knockout during adipocyte culture attenuated the proliferation of HO-8910 cells treated with adipocyte-conditioned media, indicating that resistin may promote HO-8910 cell proliferation via the mechanistic target of a rapamycin (mTOR)-mediated signaling pathway. Resistin (30–100 ng/ml) also enhanced wound-healing rates in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. Co-culturing HO-8910 cells with adipocytes also increased the wound-healing rates. Resistin expression was inhibited by miR-124-1 transcriptional activity, and resistin-mediated HO-8910 cell migration was also regulated by miR-124-1. Furthermore, we also confirmed the role of resistin in promoting tumor growth in vivo.

Conclusions:
These findings suggest that resistin may serve as an effective therapeutic target for ovarian epithelial carcinoma, especially in patients who are obese.