Androgen-Induced Cell Migration: Role of Androgen Receptor/Filamin A Association

Background: Androgen receptor (AR) controls male morphogenesis, gametogenesis and prostate growth as well as development of prostate cancer. These findings support a role for AR in cell migration and invasiveness. However, the molecular mechanism involved in AR-mediated cell migration still remains elusive. Methodology/Principal Findings: Mouse embryo NIH3T3 fibroblasts and highly metastatic human fibrosarcoma HT1080 cells harbor low levels of transcriptionally incompetent AR. We now report that, through extra nuclear action, AR triggers migration of both cell types upon stimulation with physiological concentrations of the androgen R1881. We analyzed the initial events leading to androgen-induced cell migration and observed that challenging NIH3T3 cells with 10 nM R1881 rapidly induces interaction of AR with filamin A (FlnA) at cytoskeleton. AR/FlnA complex recruits integrin beta 1, thus activating its dependent cascade. Silencing of AR, FlnA and integrin beta 1 shows that this ternary complex controls focal adhesion kinase (FAK), paxillin and Rac, thereby driving cell migration. FAK-null fibroblasts migrate poorly and Rac inhibition by EHT impairs motility of androgen-treated NIH3T3 cells. Interestingly, FAK and Rac activation by androgens are independent of each other. Findings in human fibrosarcoma HT1080 cells strengthen the role of Rac in androgen signaling. The Rac inhibitor significantly impairs androgen-induced migration in these cells. A mutant AR, deleted of the sequence interacting with FlnA, fails to mediate FAK activation and paxillin tyrosine phosphorylation in androgen-stimulated cells, further reinforcing the role of AR/FlnA interaction in androgen-mediated motility. Conclusions/Significance: The present report, for the first time, indicates that the extra nuclear AR/FlnA/integrin beta 1 complex is the key by which androgen activates signaling leading to cell migration. Assembly of this ternary complex may control organ development and prostate cancer metastasis

The Chemokine CXCL16 and Its Receptor, CXCR6, as Markers and Promoters of Inflammation-Associated Cancers

Clinical observations and mouse models have suggested that inflammation can be pro-tumorigenic. Since chemokines are critical in leukocyte trafficking, we hypothesized that chemokines play essential roles in inflammation-associated cancers. Screening for 37 chemokines in prostate cancer cell lines and xenografts revealed CXCL16, the ligand for the receptor CXCR6, as the most consistently expressed chemokine. Immunohistochemistry and/or immunofluorescence and confocal imaging of 121 human prostate specimens showed that CXCL16 and CXCR6 were co-expressed, both on prostate cancer cells and adjacent T cells. Expression levels of CXCL16 and CXCR6 on cancer cells correlated with poor prognostic features including high-stage and high-grade, and expression also correlated with post-inflammatory changes in the cancer stroma as revealed by loss of alpha-smooth muscle actin. Moreover, CXCL16 enhanced the growth of CXCR6-expressing cancer and primary CD4 T cells. We studied expression of CXCL16 in an additional 461 specimens covering 12 tumor types, and found that CXCL16 was expressed in multiple human cancers associated with inflammation. Our study is the first to describe the expression of CXCL16/CXCR6 on both cancer cells and adjacent T cells in humans, and to demonstrate correlations between CXCL16 and CXCR6 vs. poor both prognostic features and reactive changes in cancer stoma. Taken together, our data suggest that CXCL16 and CXCR6 may mark cancers arising in an inflammatory milieu and mediate pro-tumorigenic effects of inflammation through direct effects on cancer cell growth and by inducing the migration and proliferation of tumor-associated leukocytes

A Component of Retinal Light Adaptation Mediated by the Thyroid Hormone Cascade

Analysis with DNA-microrrays and real time PCR show that several genes involved in the thyroid hormone cascade, such as deiodinase 2 and 3 (Dio2 and Dio3) are differentially regulated by the circadian clock and by changes of the ambient light. The expression level of Dio2 in adult rats (2–3 months of age) kept continuously in darkness is modulated by the circadian clock and is up-regulated by 2 fold at midday. When the diurnal ambient light was on, the expression level of Dio2 increased by 4–8 fold and a consequent increase of the related protein was detected around the nuclei of retinal photoreceptors and of neurons in inner and outer nuclear layers. The expression level of Dio3 had a different temporal pattern and was down-regulated by diurnal light. Our results suggest that DIO2 and DIO3 have a role not only in the developing retina but also in the adult retina and are powerfully regulated by light. As the thyroid hormone is a ligand-inducible transcription factor controlling the expression of several target genes, the transcriptional activation of Dio2 could be a novel genomic component of light adaptation

Photoinduced degradation from trace 1,8-diiodooctane in organic photovoltaics

1,8-Diiodooctane (DIO) is a high boiling point solvent additive commonly used to control the active layer morphology of bulk-heterojunction organic photovoltaic (OPV) films. OPV devices fabricated using DIO often show improved efficiency, but recent studies have suggested that light exposure may cause residual DIO to react with OPV materials. We use NMR to quantify the amount of residual DIO in bulk heterojunction (BHJ) layers, finding that after a typical thermal evaporator high vacuum cycle DIO is still easily observed. This suggests that most completed devices contain trapped DIO. While OPV devices processed without DIO remain stable, devices processed with DIO rapidly degrade under illumination, even if they had undergone sequential heating and vacuum steps to remove the DIO impurity. These results suggest that impurities that can act as radical initiators, such as DIO, can be detrimental even at concentrations as low as 20 ppm by mass

Polymorphism controls the degree of charge transfer in a molecularly doped semiconducting polymer

When an organic semiconductor (OSC) is blended with an electron acceptor molecule that can act as a p-type dopant, there should ideally be complete (integer) transfer of charge from the OSC to the dopant. However, some dopant-OSC blends instead form charge transfer complexes (CTCs), characterized by fractional charge transfer (CT) and strong orbital hybridization between the two molecules. Fractional CT doping does not efficiently generate free charge carriers, but it is unclear what conditions lead to incomplete charge transfer. Here we show that by modifying film processing conditions in the semiconductor-dopant couple poly(3-hexylthiophene):2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-7,7,8,8,-tetracyanoquinodimethane (P3HT:F4TCNQ), we can selectively obtain nearly pure integer or fractional CT phases. Fractional CT films show electrical conductivities approximately 2 orders of magnitude lower than corresponding integer CT films, and remarkably different optical absorption spectra. Grazing incidence wide-angle X-ray diffraction (GIXD) reveals that fractional CT films display an unusually dense and well-ordered crystal structure. These films show lower paracrystallinity and shorter lamellar and π-stacking distances than undoped films processed under similar conditions. Using plane-wave DFT we obtain a structure with unit cell parameters closely matching those observed by GIXD. This first-ever observation of both fractional and integer CT in a single OSC-dopant system demonstrates the importance of structural effects on OSC doping and opens the door to further studies

Photoinduced degradation from trace 1,8-diiodooctane in organic photovoltaics

1,8-Diiodooctane (DIO) is a high boiling point solvent additive commonly used to control the active layer morphology of bulk-heterojunction organic photovoltaic (OPV) films. OPV devices fabricated using DIO often show improved efficiency, but recent studies have suggested that light exposure may cause residual DIO to react with OPV materials. We use NMR to quantify the amount of residual DIO in bulk heterojunction (BHJ) layers, finding that after a typical thermal evaporator high vacuum cycle DIO is still easily observed. This suggests that most completed devices contain trapped DIO. While OPV devices processed without DIO remain stable, devices processed with DIO rapidly degrade under illumination, even if they had undergone sequential heating and vacuum steps to remove the DIO impurity. These results suggest that impurities that can act as radical initiators, such as DIO, can be detrimental even at concentrations as low as 20 ppm by mass

A Freely Soluble, High Electron Affinity Molecular Dopant for Solution Processing of Organic Semiconductors

Molecular dopants are increasingly studied to enhance the conductivity of semiconducting polymers. Most available p-type dopants have low solubility in common solvents and moderate electron affinities (EA), which makes solution processing difficult and limits the range of semiconducting polymers that can be doped. Here, we describe the synthesis and characterization of the new molecular dopant TMCN3-CP, which has an EA of ?5.5 eV. We show that high ionization energy alternating copolymers such as PDPP-4T, PDPP-3T, and PDPP-T-TT-T can be p-type doped and achieve high conductivities with TMCN3-CP using sequential solution processing. The main advantage of this new dopant is the ability to chemically tailor the ester groups, which we demonstrate here for sequential solution doping of films. Sequential solution processing allows a greater ability to control the film morphology and is also desirable for scale-up to large-area polymer electronics

A Freely Soluble, High Electron Affinity Molecular Dopant for Solution Processing of Organic Semiconductors

Molecular dopants are increasingly studied to enhance the conductivity of semiconducting polymers. Most available p-type dopants have low solubility in common solvents and moderate electron affinities (EA), which makes solution processing difficult and limits the range of semiconducting polymers that can be doped. Here, we describe the synthesis and characterization of the new molecular dopant TMCN3-CP, which has an EA of ?5.5 eV. We show that high ionization energy alternating copolymers such as PDPP-4T, PDPP-3T, and PDPP-T-TT-T can be p-type doped and achieve high conductivities with TMCN3-CP using sequential solution processing. The main advantage of this new dopant is the ability to chemically tailor the ester groups, which we demonstrate here for sequential solution doping of films. Sequential solution processing allows a greater ability to control the film morphology and is also desirable for scale-up to large-area polymer electronics