Glycogen synthase kinase-3β positively regulates the proliferation of human ovarian cancer cells

Although glycogen synthase kinase-3(GSK-3)might act as a tumor suppressor since its inhibition is expected tomimic the activation of Wnt-signaling pathway,GSK-3β may contribute to NF-κ3 activation in cancer cells leading toincreased cancer cell proliferation and survival.Here we report that GSK-3β activity was involved in the proliferationof human ovarian cancer cell both in vitro and in vivo.Inhibition of GSK-3 activity by pharmacological inhibitors sup-pressed proliferation of the ovarian cancer cells.Overexpressing constitutively active form of GSK-3β induced entryinto the S phase,increased cyclin D1 expression and facilitated the proliferation of ovarian cancer cells.Furthermore,GSK-3 inhibition prevented the formation of the tumor in nude mice generated by the inoculation of human ovariancancer cells.Our findings thus suggest that GSK-3β activity is important for the proliferation of ovarian cancer cells,implicating this kinase as a potential therapeutic target in ovarian cancer.