scholarly journals Dysregulation of splicing-related proteins in prostate cancer is controlled by FOXA1

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
John G. Foster ◽  
Rebecca Arkell ◽  
Marco Del Giudice ◽  
Chinedu Anene ◽  
Andrea Lauria ◽  
...  

AbstractProstate cancer (PCa) is genomically driven by dysregulation of transcriptional networks involving the transcriptional factors (TFs) FOXA1, ERG, AR, and HOXB13. However, the role of these specific TFs in the regulation of alternative pre-mRNA splicing (AS), which is a proven therapeutic vulnerability for cancers driven by the TF MYC, is not described. Using transcriptomic datasets from PCa patients, we tested for an association between expression of FOXA1, ERG, AR, HOXB13, and MYC, and genes involved in AS - termed splicing-related proteins (SRPs), which have pleiotropic roles in RNA metabolism. We identified FOXA1 as the strongest predictor of dysregulated SRP gene expression, which was associated with PCa disease relapse after treatment. Subsequently, we selected a subset of FOXA1-binding and actively-transcribed SRP genes that phenocopy the FOXA1 dependency of PCa cells, and confirmed in vitro via knockdown and over-expression that FOXA1 regulates SRP gene expression. Finally, we demonstrated the persistence of a FOXA1-SRP gene association in treatment-relapsed castration-resistant PCa (CRPCa) patients. Our data demonstrate, for the first time, that FOXA1 controls dysregulated SRP gene expression, which is associated with poor PCa patient outcomes. Analogous to MYC-driven cancers, our findings implicate the therapeutic targeting of SRPs and AS in FOXA1-overexpressing PCa.

Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 3959
Author(s):  
Oluwaseun Adebayo Bamodu ◽  
Yuan-Hung Wang ◽  
Chen-Hsun Ho ◽  
Su-Wei Hu ◽  
Chia-Da Lin ◽  
...  

Background: prostate cancer (PCa) is a principal cause of cancer-related morbidity and mortality. Castration resistance and metastasis are clinical challenges and continue to impede therapeutic success, despite diagnostic and therapeutic advances. There are reports of the oncogenic activity of genetic suppressor element (GSE)1 in breast and gastric cancers; however, its role in therapy resistance, metastasis, and susceptibility to disease recurrence in PCa patients remains unclear. Objective: this study investigated the role of aberrantly expressed GSE1 in the metastasis, therapy resistance, relapse, and poor prognosis of advanced PCa. Methods: we used a large cohort of multi-omics data and in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo assays to investigate the potential effect of altered GSE1 expression on advanced/castration-resistant PCa (CRPC) treatment responses, disease progression, and prognosis. Results: using a multi-cohort approach, we showed that GSE1 is upregulated in PCa, while tumor-associated calcium signal transducer 2 (TACSTD2) is downregulated. Moreover, the direct, but inverse, correlation interaction between GSE1 and TACSTD2 drives metastatic disease, castration resistance, and disease progression and modulates the clinical and immune statuses of patients with PCa. Patients with GSE1highTACSTD2low expression are more prone to recurrence and disease-specific death than their GSE1lowTACSTD2high counterparts. Interestingly, we found that the GSE1–TACSTD2 expression profile is associated with the therapy responses and clinical outcomes in patients with PCa, especially those with metastatic/recurrent disease. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the shRNA-mediated targeting of GSE1 (shGSE1) significantly inhibits cell proliferation and attenuates cell migration and tumorsphere formation in metastatic PC3 and DU145 cell lines, with an associated suppression of VIM, SNAI2, and BCL2 and the concomitant upregulation of TACSTD2 and BAX. Moreover, shGSE1 enhances sensitivity to the antiandrogens abiraterone and enzalutamide in vitro and in vivo. Conclusion: these data provide preclinical evidence of the oncogenic role of dysregulated GSE1–TACSTD2 signaling and show that the molecular or pharmacological targeting of GSE1 is a workable therapeutic strategy for inhibiting androgen-driven oncogenic signals, re-sensitizing CRPC to treatment, and repressing the metastatic/recurrent phenotypes of patients with PCa.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng Xie ◽  
Hongliang Yu ◽  
Feijiang Wang ◽  
Feng Yan ◽  
Xia He

Introduction. Radiotherapy is the mainstay in the treatment of prostate cancer. However, significant radioresistance of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) cells constitutes a main obstacle in the treatment of this disease. By using bioinformatic data mining methods, LOXL2 was found to be upregulated in both androgen-independent prostate cancer cell lines and radioresistant tumor samples collected from patients with prostate cancer. We speculate that LOXL2 may play an important role in the radioresistance of CRPC cells. Methods. The effect of LOXL2 knockdown on the radiosensitivity of androgen-independent prostate cancer cells lines was measured by the clonogenic assay and xenograft tumor experiments under in vitro and in vivo conditions, respectively. In studies on the mechanism, we focused on the EMT phenotype changes and cell apoptosis changes induced by LOXL2 knockdown in DU145 cells. The protein levels of three EMT biomarkers, namely, E-cadherin, vimentin, and N-cadherin, were measured by western blotting and immunohistochemical staining. Cell apoptosis after irradiation was measured by flow cytometry and caspase-3 activity assay. Salvage experiment was also conducted to confirm the possible role of EMT in the radiosensitization effect of LOXL2 knockdown in CRPC cells. Results. LOXL2 knockdown in CRPC cells enhanced cellular radiosensitivity under both in vitro and in vivo conditions. A significant reversal of EMT was observed in LOXL2-silenced DU145 cells. Cell apoptosis after irradiation was significantly enhanced by LOXL2 knockdown in DU145 cells. Results from the salvage experiment confirmed the key role of EMT process reversal in the radiosensitization effect of LOXL2 knockdown in DU145 cells. Conclusions. LOXL2 plays an important role in the development of cellular radioresistance in CRPC cells. Targeting LOXL2 may be a rational avenue to overcome radioresistance in CRPC cells. A LOXL2-targeting strategy for CRPC treatment warrants detailed investigation in the future.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wisam N. Awadallah ◽  
Jagpreet S. Nanda ◽  
Sarah E. Kohrt ◽  
Magdalena M Grabowska

Castration-resistant prostate cancer represents a continuum of phenotypes, including tumors with high levels of androgen receptor (AR) expression and activity and those which do not express AR and rely on alternative pathways for survival. The process by which AR-positive prostate cancer cells and tumors lose AR expression and acquire neuroendocrine features is referred to as neuroendocrine differentiation. Numerous therapies and exposures have been demonstrated to induce neuroendocrine differentiation in vitro, including the pro-inflammatory cytokine, interleukin 1 beta (IL-1β), encoded by the gene IL1B. The purpose of our studies was to determine the relationship between the expression and activity of AR in relationship to IL-1β and IL1B in prostate cancer. We performed analysis of de-identified human clinical data and generated prostate cancer cell lines with overexpression or knockout of IL1B. In primary prostate cancer, higher expression of IL1B predicts longer time to biochemical recurrence. In metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, IL1B expression is decreased and inversely correlates with AR and AR-target gene expression and AR activity, while positively correlating with the neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC) score and neuroendocrine marker gene expression. In vitro, we report that AR-positive castration-resistant prostate cancer cells (C4-2B, 22Rv1) secrete IL-1β, and knockout of IL1B in these cells results in increased AR activity, in the presence and absence of dihydrotestosterone (DHT). Importantly, knockout of IL1B prevented AR attrition during androgen-deprivation. Taken together, our studies demonstrate that loss of IL1B in AR-positive castration-resistant prostate cancer cells can increase and maintain AR activity in the absence of androgens, suggesting another potential mechanism of high AR activity in castration-resistant prostate cancer.


Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 780
Author(s):  
Martha Zavridou ◽  
Areti Strati ◽  
Evangelos Bournakis ◽  
Stavroula Smilkou ◽  
Victoria Tserpeli ◽  
...  

Liquid biopsy, based on the analysis of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), provides non-invasive real-time monitoring of tumor evolution and therapeutic efficacy. We performed for the first time a direct comparison study on gene expression and DNA methylation markers in CTCs and paired plasma-derived exosomes and evaluated their prognostic significance in metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer. This prospective liquid biopsy (LB) study was based on a group of 62 metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) patients and 10 healthy donors (HD) as controls. Identical blood draws were used to: (a) enumerate CTC and tumor-derived extracellular vesicles (tdEVs) using CellSearch (CS) and (b) analyze CTCs and paired plasma-derived exosomes at the gene expression and DNA methylation level. CTCs were enumerated using CellSearch in 57/62 patients, with values ranging from 5 to 854 cells/7.5 mL PB. Our results revealed for the first time a significantly higher positivity of gene expression markers (CK-8, CK-18, TWIST1, PSMA, AR-FL, AR-V7, AR-567 and PD-L1 mRNA) in EpCAM-positive CTCs compared to plasma-derived exosomes. GSTP1, RASSF1A and SCHLAFEN were methylated both in CTC and exosomes. In CTCs, Kaplan–Meier analysis revealed that CK-19 (p = 0.009), PSMA (p = 0.001), TWIST1 (p = 0.001) expression and GSTP1 (p = 0.001) methylation were correlated with OS, while in exosomes GSTP1 (p = 0.007) and RASSF1A (p = 0.001) methylation was correlated with OS. Our direct comparison study of CTCs and exosomes at gene expression and DNA methylation level, revealed for the first time a significantly higher positivity in EpCAM-positive CTCs compared to plasma-derived exosomes. Future perspective of this study should be the evaluation of clinical utility of molecular biomarkers in CTCs and exosomes on independent multicentric cohorts with mCRPC patients.


2014 ◽  
Vol 32 (4_suppl) ◽  
pp. 129-129
Author(s):  
Russell Zelig Szmulewitz ◽  
Steve Kregel ◽  
Masis Isikbay ◽  
Yi Cai ◽  
James Lin Chen ◽  
...  

129 Background: Enzalutamide (MDV3100) is a second generation androgen receptor (AR) antagonist with potent activity in the treatment of castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). However, most patients develop resistance and progression of disease; thus there is a critical need to identify novel targetable pathways mechanistically linked to this resistance. Methods: A panel of four prostate cancer cell lines (LAPC-4, LNCaP, VCaP, and CWRR1) was created each with a different AR status that are resistant to MDV3100 by culturing cells long-term less than 6 months in the drug at pharmacologic levels. The MDV3100 resistant (MDV-R) lines were assayed for proliferation, viability, resistance to docetaxel, and tumor take of subcutaneous xenografts. AR expression and ligand binding domain (LBD) DNA sequences were analyzed. Gene expression microarray comparison of resistant and non-resistant parental cell lines was performed. Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and testosterone levels were analyzed from conditioned media. Results: Cell lines demonstrated heterogeneous growth characteristics.In vivo studies depicted increased or unaltered tumor take and growth in castrate athymic mice. In some cell lines growth was increased in vitro when drug was withdrawn; yet this growth was inhibited by physiological testosterone levels, both in vitro and in vivo. MDV-R cells remained sensitive to docetaxel in vitro and had increased levels of ARmRNA. However, total AR protein levels were lower or unchanged than the parental lines, with evidence for increased truncated forms of AR. The AR LBD acquired no new mutations. Secreted PSA was lower in all but one MDV-R line. Gene expression analyses demonstrated strong upregulation of IGFBP3 in all MDV-R cells. Pathway analysis implicated increased IGF and JAK/STAT signaling whereas mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling was decreased. Conclusions: Although AR-mediated pathways contribute to enzalutamide resistance, a broader approach across several cell lines suggests that there may be even a greater contribution from pleiotropic, non-AR mediated mechanisms. Such mechanisms may include IGF signaling, JAK/STAT signaling and modulation of mTOR.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianjian Zhang ◽  
Hui Chen ◽  
Xiaodong Weng ◽  
Hao Liu ◽  
Zhiyuan Chen ◽  
...  

AbstractChronic kidney disease (CKD) is thus deemed to a global health problem. Renal fibrosis, characterized by accumulation of extracellular matrix (ECM) components in the kidney, is considered a common pathway leading to CKD. Regulator of calcineurin1 (RCAN1), identified as a competitive endogenous inhibitor of the phosphatase calcineurin, participates in ECM deposition in various organs. However, the role of RCAN1 in renal fibrosis remains unclear. Here, unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO), a well-known model to induce renal fibrosis in vivo, was performed on mice for a week. To overexpress RCAN1.4 in vivo, recombinant adeno-associated virus 9-packed RCAN1.4 over-expression plasm was employed in mice kidney. Lentivirus-packed RCAN1.4 over-expression plasm was employed to transfer into HK-2 and NRK-49F cells in vitro. The results indicated that RCAN1.4 expression was impaired both in UUO-induced renal fibrosis in vivo and TGF-β1-induced renal fibrosis in vitro. However, knocking in of RCAN1.4 suppressed the production of extracellular matrix (ECM) both in vivo and in vitro. Furthermore, in vitro, the apoptosis-related proteins, including the ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 and cleaved-caspase3, were elevated in cells transfected with RCAN1.4 overexpression plasmid. In addition, we found that RCAN1.4 could rugulated NFAT2 nuclear distribution by inhibiting calcineurin pathway. So overexpression of RCAN1.4 could reverse renal fibrosis, attenuate ECM related protein accumulation, promote apoptosis of myofibroblast via inhibiting Calcineurin/NFAT2 signaling pathway. Taken together, our study demonstrated that targeting RCAN1.4 may be therapeutic efficacy in renal fibrosis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Boya Zhang ◽  
Mingpeng Zhang ◽  
Chunyi Shen ◽  
Guancong Liu ◽  
Fan Zhang ◽  
...  

AbstractThe refractory of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) is mainly reflected in drug resistance. The current research on the resistance mechanism of CRPC is still in its infancy. In this study, we revealed for the first time the key role of LncRNA PCBP1-AS1 in CRPC drug resistance. Through detailed in vivo and in vitro studies, we found that PCBP1-AS1 may enhance the deubiquitination of AR/AR-V7 by stabilizing the USP22-AR/AR-V7 complex, thereby preventing AR/AR-V7 from being degraded through the ubiquitin–proteasome pathway. Targeting PCBP1-AS1 can significantly restore the drug sensitivity of enzalutamide-resistant tumors in vivo and in vitro. Our research further expands the function of LncRNA in castration-resistant prostate cancer, which may provide new potential for clinical diagnosis and targeted therapy.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vicente Herrero-Aguayo ◽  
Juan M Jimenez-Vacas ◽  
Enrique Gomez-Gomez ◽  
Antonio J Leon-Gonzalez ◽  
Prudencio Saez-Martinez ◽  
...  

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document