Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0376358 (prostate cancer)
 59,338 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

PMEPA1 was identified originally as a highly androgen-inducible gene with prostate-abundant expression that was restricted to prostatic epithelial cells. PMEPA1 protein is a NEDD4 (ubiquitin-protein isopeptide ligase)-binding protein, which negatively regulates prostate cancer cell growth. In this study we establish that PMEPA1 is a direct transcriptional target of the androgen receptor (AR). We also demonstrate that PMEPA1 negatively regulates AR protein levels in different cell culture models. Transient expression of PMEPA1 down-regulates AR protein levels and AR transcriptional targets in prostate cancer cells. Conversely, knockdown of PMEPA1 leads to elevated levels of AR protein, AR transcriptional targets (prostate-specific antigen), and increased cell cycle S phase. We define that the PMEPA1-dependent down-regulation of AR is because of AR ubiquitination and proteasome-mediated degradation. The mutant PMEPA1 (PY1/2 motif mutation) that is impaired in NEDD4 recruitment shows attenuated AR ubiquitination and AR protein down-regulation. These data support the hypothesis that PMEPA1 negatively regulates the stability of AR protein by enhancing AR ubiquitination and proteasome-mediated degradation through NEDD4. The effect of PMEPA1 on AR ubiquitination and degradation appears to be MDM2-independent. Thus, the PMEPA1-AR degradation pathway may represent a new androgen-dependent mechanism for regulating AR levels in prostate epithelial cells. These findings underscore that the decreased PMEPA1 expression frequently noted in prostate cancers may lead to increased AR functions and strengthen the biological role of PMEPA1 in prostate cancers.
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PMID:A feedback loop between the androgen receptor and a NEDD4-binding protein, PMEPA1, in prostate cancer cells. 1870 14

Since androgen receptor (AR) plays an important role in prostate cancer development and progression, androgen-ablation has been the frontline therapy for treatment of advanced prostate cancer even though it is rarely curative. A curative strategy should involve functional and structural elimination of AR from prostate cancer cells. We have previously reported that apoptosis induced by medicinal proteasome-inhibitory compound celastrol is associated with a decrease in AR protein levels. However celastrol-stimulated events contributing to this AR decrease have not been elucidated. Here, we report that a variety of chemotherapeutic agents, including proteasome inhibitors, a topoisomerase inhibitor, DNA-damaging agents and docetaxel that cause cell death, decrease AR levels in LNCaP prostate cancer cells. This decrease in AR protein levels was not due to the suppression of AR mRNA expression in these cells. We observed that a proteolytic activity residing in cytosol of prostate cancer cells is responsible for AR breakdown and that this proteolytic activity was stimulated upon induction of apoptosis. Interestingly, proteasome inhibitor celastrol- and chemotherapeutic drug VP-16-stimulated AR breakdown was attenuated by calpain inhibitors calpastatin and N-acetyl-L-leucyl-L-leucyl-L-methioninal. Furthermore, AR proteolytic activity pulled down by calmodulin-agarose beads from celastrol-treated PC-3 cells showed immunoreactivity to a calpain antibody. Taken together, these results demonstrate calpain involvement in proteasome inhibitor-induced AR breakdown, and suggest that AR degradation is intrinsic to the induction of apoptosis in prostate cancer cells.
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PMID:Calpain-mediated androgen receptor breakdown in apoptotic prostate cancer cells. 1872 91

Proteolysis targeting chimeric molecules (Protacs) target proteins for destruction by exploiting the ubiquitin-dependent proteolytic system of eukaryotic cells. We designed two Protacs that contain the peptide 'degron' from hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha, which binds to the Von-Hippel-Lindau (VHL) E3 ubiquitin ligase complex, linked to either dihydroxytestosterone that targets the androgen receptor (AR; Protac-A), or linked to estradiol (E2) that targets the estrogen receptor-alpha (ERalpha; Protac-B). We hypothesized that these Protacs would recruit hormone receptors to the VHL E3 ligase complex, resulting in the degradation of receptors, and decreased proliferation of hormone-dependent cell lines. Treatment of estrogen-dependent breast cancer cells with Protac-B induced the degradation of ERalpha in a proteasome-dependent manner. Protac-B inhibited the proliferation of ERalpha-dependent breast cancer cells by inducing G(1) arrest, inhibition of retinoblastoma phosphorylation and decreasing expression of cyclin D1, progesterone receptors A and B. Protac-B treatment did not affect the proliferation of estrogen-independent breast cancer cells that lacked ERalpha expression. Similarly, Protac-A treatment of androgen-dependent prostate cancer cells induced G(1) arrest but did not affect cells that do not express AR. Our results suggest that Protacs specifically inhibit the proliferation of hormone-dependent breast and prostate cancer cells through degradation of the ERalpha and AR, respectively.
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PMID:Targeting steroid hormone receptors for ubiquitination and degradation in breast and prostate cancer. 1879 99

Calcitriol actions are mediated by the vitamin D receptor (VDR), a nuclear transcription factor of the steroid-retinoid-thyroid nuclear receptor gene superfamily. Calcitriol inhibits the growth of many cells including cancer cells by inducing cell cycle arrest. In some cancer cell lines, calcitriol also induces apoptosis. In the LNCaP prostate cancer cell line, induction of apoptosis and caspase-3/7 activities by staurosporine (STS) abolished [(3)H]1,25-dihydroxy vitamin D(3) binding and VDR protein, suggesting that the VDR may be targeted for inactivation by caspases during apoptosis. A potential caspase-3 site (D(195)MMD(198)S) was identified in the human VDR ligand-binding domain. Mutations D195A, D198A, and S199A were generated in the putative capase-3 cleavage site. In transfected COS-7 cells, STS treatment resulted in the cleavage of the wild-type (WT) VDR and S199A mutant VDR but not the D195A or D198A mutants. In in vitro assays, the WT VDR and S199A mutant VDR were cleaved by caspase-3, although the D195A and D198A mutants were resistant to caspase-3. In vitro, the WT VDR was also cleaved by caspase-6 and caspase-7 and in extracts of STS-treated LNCaP cells. In STS-treated LNCaP cells and human skin fibroblasts, the proteasome inhibitor MG-132 protected the VDR caspase cleavage fragment from further degradation by the 26S proteasome. The rat VDR that does not contain the caspase-3 cleavage site was not cleaved in STS-treated COS-7 cells. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that the human VDR is a target of caspase-3 and suggest that activation of caspase-3 may limit VDR activity.
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PMID:Inactivation of the human vitamin D receptor by caspase-3. 1883 97

Androgen receptor (AR) is a ligand-activated transcription factor belonging to the steroid hormone receptor family and is very important for the development and progression of prostate cancer. The soy isoflavone genistein has been shown previously to down-regulate AR in androgen-dependent prostate cancer cell lines such as LNCaP. However, the mechanism(s) by which AR is down-regulated by genistein is still not known fully. We show a new mechanism by which genistein inhibits AR protein levels. We show that genistein-treated LNCaP cells exhibit increased ubiquitination of AR, suggesting that AR protein is down-regulated via a proteasome-mediated pathway. AR is normally stabilized by the chaperone activity of the heat shock protein Hsp90. The increased ubiquitination of AR after genistein treatment is attributed to decreased Hsp90 chaperone activity as assessed by its increased functionally inactive acetylated form. Consistent with this result, we find that HDAC6, which is a Hsp90 deacetylase, is inhibited by the antiestrogenic activity of genistein. Hence, in this study, we elucidate a novel mechanism of AR down-regulation by genistein through inhibition of HDAC6-Hsp90 cochaperone function required to stabilize AR protein. Our results suggest that genistein could be used as a potential chemopreventive agent for prostate cancers along with known inhibitors of HDAC6 and Hsp90.
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PMID:Genistein down-regulates androgen receptor by modulating HDAC6-Hsp90 chaperone function. 1885 23

Effective treatments for androgen-independent prostate cancer (AIPCa) are lacking. To address this, emerging therapeutics such as proteasome inhibitors are currently undergoing clinical trials. Inositol hexakisphosphate (IP6) is an orally non-toxic phytochemical that exhibits antitumour activity against several types of cancer including PCa. We have previously shown that treatment of PC3 cells with IP6 induces the transcription of a subset of nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB)-responsive and pro-apoptotic BCL-2 family genes. In this study, we report that although NF-kappaB subunits p50/p65 translocate to the nucleus of PC3 cells in response to IP6, inhibition of NF-kappaB-mediated transcription using non-degradable inhibitor of kappaB (IkappaB)-alpha does not modulate IP6 sensitivity. Treatment with IP6 also leads to increased protein levels of PUMA, BIK/NBK and NOXA between 4 and 8 h of treatment and decreased levels of MCL-1 and BCL-2 after 24 h. Although blocking transcription using actinomycin D does not modulate PC3 cell sensitivity to IP6, inhibition of protein translation using cycloheximide has a significant protective effect. In contrast, blocking proteasome-mediated protein degradation using MG-132 significantly enhances the ability of IP6 to reduce cellular metabolic activity in both PC3 and DU145 AIPCa cell lines. This effect of combined treatment on mitochondrial depolarisation is particularly striking and is also reproduced by another proteasome inhibitor (ALLN). The enhanced effect of combined MG132/IP6 treatment is almost completely inhibited by cycloheximide and correlates with changes in BCL-2 family protein levels. Altogether these results suggest a role for BCL-2 family proteins in mediating the combined effect of IP6 and proteasome inhibitors and warrant further pre-clinical studies for the treatment of AIPCa.
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PMID:Enhanced killing of androgen-independent prostate cancer cells using inositol hexakisphosphate in combination with proteasome inhibitors. 1894 59

Cyclin E is the Cdk2-regulatory subunit required for the initiation of DNA replication at the G1/S transition. It accumulates in late G1 phase and gets rapidly degraded by the ubiquitin/proteasome pathway during S phase. The degradation of cyclin E is a consequence of its phosphorylation and subsequent isomerization by the peptidyl-prolyl isomerase Pin1. We show that in the colon cancer cells HT-29 the inhibition of the chaperone function of Hsp90 by geldanamycin (GA) enhances the ubiquitinylation of cyclin E and triggers active degradation via the proteasome pathway. As Hsp90 forms multiprotein complexes with and regulates the function and cell contents of numerous signaling proteins, this observation suggests a direct interaction between Hsp90 and cyclin E. However, experiments using cell lysate fractionation did not reveal the presence of complexes containing both Hsp90 and cyclin E. Coupled transcription/translation experiments also failed to detect the formation of complexes between newly synthesized cyclin E and Hsp90. We conclude that Hsp90 can regulate the degradation of cellular proteins without binding to them, by an indirect mechanism. This conclusion postulates a new category of proteins that are affected by the inactivation of Hsp90. Our observations do not support the possible involvement of a PPIase in this indirect mechanism. Besides, we did not observe active geldanamycin-dependent degradation of cyclin E in the prostate cancer-derived cell line DU-145, indicating that the Hsp90-dependent stabilization of cyclin E requires specific regulatory mechanism which may be lost in certain types of cancer cells.
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PMID:Indirect participation of Hsp90 in the regulation of the cyclin E turnover. 1897 5

Inducing apoptosis via the extrinsic death receptor pathway is an attractive anti-cancer treatment strategy, however, numerous cancer cells exhibit significant resistance to death ligand stimuli. Here, we investigated the anti-neoplastic capability of proteasome inhibition, through the administration of Velcade, to synergize with a death receptor agonist in vivo. The death ligand-resistant LNCaP prostate xenograft model was utilized. Tumors were established and mice were treated with Velcade, TRAIL (TNF-Related Apoptosis Inducing Ligand) or the combined regimen. Only mice treated with a combination of Velcade and TRAIL was tumor growth inhibited with a corresponding loss of the hemorrhagic phenotype, decreased tumor cell proliferation and increased tumor cell apoptosis. Next, to determine if the extrinsic pathway is critical for mediating the anti-tumor efficacy that can be achieved in some cell types with Velcade treatment alone, the death receptor sensitive PC-3 xenograft model was used. PC-3 tumors exhibited a 54% decrease in tumor volume in response to Velcade, while c-FLIP overexpressing PC-3 xenografts were resistant to the treatment. These findings suggest that the extrinsic apoptotic pathway can mediate the anti-tumor effects of Velcade and support the therapeutic use of proteasome inhibition in combination with a death receptor stimulus in the treatment of prostate cancer.
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PMID:Velcade sensitizes prostate cancer cells to TRAIL induced apoptosis and suppresses tumor growth in vivo. 1912 21

Post-translational degradation of protein plays an important role in cell life. We employed chimeric molecules (dihydrotestosterone-based proteolysis-targeting chimeric molecule [DHT-PROTAC]) to facilitate androgen receptor (AR) degradation via the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway (UPP) and to investigate the role of AR in cell proliferation and viability in androgen-sensitive prostate cancer cells. Western blot analysis and immunohistochemistry were applied to analyse AR levels in LNCaP cells after DHT-PROTAC treatment. Cell counting and the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) cell viability assay were used to evaluate cell proliferation and viability after AR elimination in both LNCaP and PC-3 cells. AR was tagged for elimination via the UPP by DHT-PROTAC, and this could be blocked by proteasome inhibitors. Degradation of AR depended on DHT-PROTAC concentration, and either DHT or an ALAPYIP-(arg)(8) peptide could compete with DHT-PROTAC. Inhibition of cell proliferation and decreased viability were observed in LNCaP cells, but not in PC-3 or 786-O cells after DHT-PROTAC treatment. These data indicate that AR elimination is facilitated via the UPP by DHT-PROTAC, and that the growth of LNCaP cells is repressed after AR degradation.
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PMID:Chimeric molecules facilitate the degradation of androgen receptors and repress the growth of LNCaP cells. 1905 Jun 78

Epidemiological studies have shown that a diet rich in fruits and cruciferous vegetables is associated with a lower risk of prostate cancer. Indole-3-carbinol (I3C) and its dimeric product 3,3'-diindolylmethane (DIM) have been shown to exhibit anti-tumor activity both in vitro and in vivo. Recently, we have reported that a formulated DIM (B-DIM) induced apoptosis and inhibited growth, angiogenesis, and invasion of prostate cancer cells by regulating Akt, NF-kappaB, VEGF and the androgen receptor (AR) signaling pathway. However, the precise molecular mechanism(s) by which B-DIM inhibits prostate cancer cell growth and induces apoptosis have not been fully elucidated. Most importantly, it is not known how B-DIM affects cell cycle regulators and proteasome activity, which are critically involved in cell growth and apoptosis. In this study, we investigated the effects of B-DIM on proteasome activity and AR transactivation with respect to B-DIM-mediated cell cycle regulation and induction of apoptosis in both androgen-sensitive LNCaP and androgen-insensitive C4-2B prostate cancer cells. We believe that our results show for the first time the cell cycle-dependent effects of B-DIM on proliferation and apoptosis of synchronized prostate cancer cells progressing from G(1) to S phase. B-DIM inhibited this progression by induction of p27(Kip1) and down-regulation of AR. We also show for the first time that B-DIM inhibits proteasome activity in S phase, leading to the inactivation of NF-kappaB signaling and induction of apoptosis in LNCaP and C4-2B cells. These results suggest that B-DIM could be a potent agent for the prevention and/or treatment of both hormone sensitive as well as hormone-refractory prostate cancer.
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PMID:Cell cycle-dependent effects of 3,3'-diindolylmethane on proliferation and apoptosis of prostate cancer cells. 1906 73


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