Abstract 79: Stromal regulation of prostate cancer cell proliferation by mevalonate pathway enzymes HMGCS1 and HMGCR

Abstract

Abstract It has been suggested that the tumor microenvironment plays an important role in tumor progression, acquisition of androgen independence, and distant metastasis in prostate cancer (PC). However, little is known about the transcriptional basis of cellular interactions in the human PC microenvironment. To clarify the mechanism of PC progression and metastasis, we investigated the interaction of PC, epithelial, and stromal cells by analyzing genome-wide gene expression profiles. Our hypothesis is that PC cells could induce stromal cells to differentiate into so-called cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), which might contribute to cancer invasion and metastasis. We identified the up-regulated genes in normal human prostate stromal cells (PrSC) co-cultured with human PC cells (LNCaP), which included the mevalonate pathway enzymes 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA synthase 1 (HMGCS1) and 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase (HMGCR). Knockdown of endogenous HMGCS1 or HMGCR in PC cells by shRNA resulted in a significant reduction of PC cell viability. Importantly, exogenous overexpression of HMGCS1 or HMGCR in either PC cells or prostate stromal cells stimulated PC cell growth, suggesting a possible autocrine/paracrine regulation. Immunohistochemical analysis confirmed that HMGCS1 and HMGCR were overexpressed in PC stroma, especially in the early stage of PC. These results provide clues to the molecular mechanisms underlying PC invasion and metastasis, and suggest that HMGCS1 and HMGCR in PC, as well as in PC stroma, might serve as molecular targets for the treatment of PC. Citation Format: Shingo Ashida, Chiaki Kawada, Keiji Inoue. Stromal regulation of prostate cancer cell proliferation by mevalonate pathway enzymes HMGCS1 and HMGCR [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 79.