TY - JOUR
T1 - Multipathways for transdifferentiation of human prostate cancer cells into neuroendocrine-like phenotype
AU - Zelivianski, Stanislav
AU - Verni, Michael
AU - Moore, Carissa
AU - Kondrikov, Dmitriy
AU - Taylor, Rodney
AU - Lin, Ming Fong
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Ms. Fen-Fen Lin for her support in cell culture. This study was supported in part by NIH Grants CA72274 and CA88184, Nebraska Research Initiative, Nebraska Department of Health LB506, LB 595.
PY - 2001/5/28
Y1 - 2001/5/28
N2 - The neuroendocrine (NE) cell is a minor cell population in normal human prostate glands. The number of NE cells is increased in advanced hormone-refractory prostate carcinomas (PCA). The mechanism of increased NE cell population in these advanced tumors is poorly understood. We examined molecular mechanisms which may be involved in the regulation of the transdifferentiation process of human PCA cells leading to a NE phenotype. We compared PCA cell lines LNCaP and PC-3 in the following medium conditions: steroid-reduced (SR), interleukin-6 (IL-6)-supplemented, or dibutyrate cAMP (db-cAMP)-supplemented. We found that androgen-responsive C-33 LNCaP cells responded to all treatments, having a neuronal-like morphology. In contrast, C-81 LNCaP cells, having a decreased androgen responsiveness, had a less pronounced effect although followed a similar trend. Androgen-unresponsive PC-3 cells showed little change in their morphology. Grown in the SR condition, the level of neuron-specific enolase (NSE), a marker of neuronal cells, was upregulated in C-33 LNCaP cells, while to a lesser degree in the presence of IL-6. In the presence of db-cAMP, the NSE level in C-33 cells was decreased, lower than that in control cells. An opposite effect was observed for C-81 LNCaP cells. Nevertheless, the NSE level was only elevated in db-cAMP-treated PC-3 cells, but no change was found in PC-3 cells grown in the SR- or IL-6-supplemented medium. Thus, a similar gross phenotypic change may correlate with differential molecular expressions. We also analyzed the expression of protein tyrosine phosphatase α (RPTPα) since it plays a critical role in normal neuronal differentiation and signaling. Our results showed that the expression of RPTPα correlates with the NE phenotypic change of LNCaP cells in the SR condition. In summary, our data clearly show that the molecular process by which cultured human prostate cancer cells undergo a transdifferentiation process to a NE cell-like phenotype is accompanied by differential expressions of different markers, and a gross NE cell-like phenotype can occur by exposing PCA cells to different pharmacological agents.
AB - The neuroendocrine (NE) cell is a minor cell population in normal human prostate glands. The number of NE cells is increased in advanced hormone-refractory prostate carcinomas (PCA). The mechanism of increased NE cell population in these advanced tumors is poorly understood. We examined molecular mechanisms which may be involved in the regulation of the transdifferentiation process of human PCA cells leading to a NE phenotype. We compared PCA cell lines LNCaP and PC-3 in the following medium conditions: steroid-reduced (SR), interleukin-6 (IL-6)-supplemented, or dibutyrate cAMP (db-cAMP)-supplemented. We found that androgen-responsive C-33 LNCaP cells responded to all treatments, having a neuronal-like morphology. In contrast, C-81 LNCaP cells, having a decreased androgen responsiveness, had a less pronounced effect although followed a similar trend. Androgen-unresponsive PC-3 cells showed little change in their morphology. Grown in the SR condition, the level of neuron-specific enolase (NSE), a marker of neuronal cells, was upregulated in C-33 LNCaP cells, while to a lesser degree in the presence of IL-6. In the presence of db-cAMP, the NSE level in C-33 cells was decreased, lower than that in control cells. An opposite effect was observed for C-81 LNCaP cells. Nevertheless, the NSE level was only elevated in db-cAMP-treated PC-3 cells, but no change was found in PC-3 cells grown in the SR- or IL-6-supplemented medium. Thus, a similar gross phenotypic change may correlate with differential molecular expressions. We also analyzed the expression of protein tyrosine phosphatase α (RPTPα) since it plays a critical role in normal neuronal differentiation and signaling. Our results showed that the expression of RPTPα correlates with the NE phenotypic change of LNCaP cells in the SR condition. In summary, our data clearly show that the molecular process by which cultured human prostate cancer cells undergo a transdifferentiation process to a NE cell-like phenotype is accompanied by differential expressions of different markers, and a gross NE cell-like phenotype can occur by exposing PCA cells to different pharmacological agents.
KW - Cellular transdifferentiation
KW - Neuroendocrine cell
KW - Neuron-specific enolase
KW - Prostate cancer
KW - Receptor protein tyrosine phosphatase α
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0035963040&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0035963040&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/S0167-4889(01)00087-8
DO - 10.1016/S0167-4889(01)00087-8
M3 - Article
C2 - 11389966
AN - SCOPUS:0035963040
SN - 0167-4889
VL - 1539
SP - 28
EP - 43
JO - Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Molecular Cell Research
JF - Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Molecular Cell Research
IS - 1-2
ER -