Abstract
BackgroundProstate cancer is one of the most common malignant cancers with the second highest global rate of mortality in men. During the early stages of disease progression, tumour growth is local and androgen-dependent. Despite treatment, a large percentage of patients develop androgen-independent prostate cancer, which often results in metastases, a leading cause of mortality in these patients. Our previous work on the RNA-binding protein Staufen1 demonstrated its novel role in cancer biology, and in particular rhabdomyosarcoma tumorigenesis. To build upon this work, we have focused on the role of Staufen1 in other forms of cancer and describe here the novel and differential roles of Staufen1 in prostate cancer.MethodsUsing a cell-based approach, three independent prostate cancer cell lines with different characteristics were used to evaluate the expression of Staufen1 in human prostate cancer relative to control prostate cells. The functional impact of Staufen1 on several key oncogenic features of prostate cancer cells including proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion were systematically investigated.ResultsWe show that Staufen1 levels are increased in all human prostate cancer cells examined in comparison to normal prostate epithelial cells. Furthermore, Staufen1 differentially regulates growth, migration, and invasion in the various prostate cancer cells assessed. In LNCaP prostate cancer cells, Staufen1 regulates cell proliferation through mTOR activation. Conversely, Staufen1 regulates migration and invasion of the highly invasive, bone metastatic-derived, PC3 prostate cells via the activation of focal adhesion kinase.ConclusionsCollectively, these results show that Staufen1 has a direct impact in prostate cancer development and further demonstrate that its functions vary amongst the prostate cancer cell types. Accordingly, Staufen1 represents a novel target for the development of much-needed therapeutic strategies for prostate cancer.
Highlights
Prostate cancer is one of the most common malignant cancers with the second highest global rate of mortality in men
Since the molecular mechanisms underlying metastatic cancer include cell motility, invasion and proliferation of cells, we investigated in the present study how Staufen1 regulates these functions in prostate cancer cells
Staufen1 is increased in human prostate Cancer We examined Staufen1 levels across three separate Prostate cancer (PC) cell lines, namely, PC3, DU145 and LNCaP cells, and compared its expression levels to those observed in normal prostate epithelial cells (PrEC) [59]
Summary
Prostate cancer is one of the most common malignant cancers with the second highest global rate of mortality in men. Prostate cancer (PC) is one of the most common malignant cancers with the second highest rate of mortality in men worldwide [1,2,3,4]. Patients diagnosed during the early stages of PC, have an androgen-dependent tumour that is Marcellus et al BMC Cancer (2021) 21:120 confined to the prostate capsule. Androgen ablation therapy eventually fails and the majority of patients progress to castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), in a median of 12 to 18 months after androgen deprivation therapy [10, 12]. Given the poor prognosis of advanced PC, there is a strong need for additional research focused on the molecular mechanisms underlying the progression of CRPC
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