Long-Term Treatment with Simvastatin Leads to Reduced Migration Capacity of Prostate Cancer Cells

Statins have been shown to improve survival of metastatic prostate cancer (mPCa). Nevertheless, their therapeutic use is still under debate. In the present study, we investigated the short-term effects of three different statins (simvastatin, atorvastatin and rosuvastatin) in various PCa cell lines mimicking androgen-sensitive and -insensitive PCa. Moreover, we generated three new PCa cell lines (LNCaPsim, ABLsim, PC-3sim) that were cultured with simvastatin over several months. Our data showed that the three statins expressed highly diverse short-term effects, with the strongest growth-inhibitory effect from simvastatin in PC-3 cells and almost no effect from rosuvastatin in any of the cell lines. Long-term treatment with simvastatin resulted in a loss of response to statins in all three cell lines, which was associated with an upregulation of cholesterol and fatty acid pathways as revealed through RNA sequencing. Despite that, long-term treated cells exhibited diminished spheroid growth and significantly reduced migration capacity per se and to differentiated osteoclasts. These findings were strengthened by reduced expression of genes annotated to cell adhesion and migration after long-term simvastatin treatment. Notably, mPCa patients taking statins were found to have lower numbers of circulating tumor cells in their blood with reduced levels of PSA and alkaline phosphatase. Our data suggest that long-term usage of simvastatin hampers the metastatic potential of PCa cells and may therefore be a potential therapeutic drug for mPCa

Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts Modify the Response of Prostate Cancer Cells to Androgen and Anti-Androgens in Three-Dimensional Spheroid Culture

Androgen receptor (AR) targeting remains the gold standard treatment for advanced prostate cancer (PCa); however, treatment resistance remains a major clinical problem. To study the therapeutic effects of clinically used anti-androgens we characterized herein a tissue-mimetic three-dimensional (3D) in vitro model whereby PCa cells were cultured alone or with PCa-associated fibroblasts (CAFs). Notably, the ratio of PCa cells to CAFs significantly increased in time in favor of the tumor cells within the spheroids strongly mimicking PCa in vivo. Despite this loss of CAFs, the stromal cells, which were not sensitive to androgen and even stimulated by the anti-androgens, significantly influenced the sensitivity of PCa cells to androgen and to the anti-androgens bicalutamide and enzalutamide. In particular, DuCaP cells lost sensitivity to enzalutamide when co-cultured with CAFs. In LAPC4/CAF and LNCaP/CAF co-culture spheroids the impact of the CAFs was less pronounced. In addition, 3D spheroids exhibited a significant increase in E-cadherin and substantial expression of vimentin in co-culture spheroids, whereas AR levels remained unchanged or even decreased. In LNCaP/CAF spheroids we further found increased Akt signaling that could be inhibited by the phosphatidyl-inositol 3 kinase (PI3K) inhibitor LY294002, thereby overcoming the anti-androgen resistance of the spheroids. Our data show that CAFs influence drug response of PCa cells with varying impact and further suggest this spheroid model is a valuable in vitro drug testing tool

Succinate Accumulation Is Associated with a Shift of Mitochondrial Respiratory Control and HIF-1α Upregulation in PTEN Negative Prostate Cancer Cells

The idea of using metabolic aberrations as targets for diagnosis or therapeutic intervention has recently gained increasing interest. In a previous study, our group discovered intriguing differences in the oxidative mitochondrial respiration capacity of benign and prostate cancer (PCa) cells. In particular, we found that PCa cells had a higher total respiratory activity than benign cells. Moreover, PCa cells showed a substantial shift towards succinate-supported mitochondrial respiration compared to benign cells, indicating a re-programming of respiratory control. This study aimed to investigate the role of succinate and its main plasma membrane transporter NaDC3 (sodium-dependent dicarboxylate transporter member 3) in PCa cells and to determine whether targeting succinate metabolism can be potentially used to inhibit PCa cell growth. Using high-resolution respirometry analysis, we observed that ROUTINE respiration in viable cells and succinate-supported respiration in permeabilized cells was higher in cells lacking the tumor suppressor phosphatase and tensin-homolog deleted on chromosome 10 (PTEN), which is frequently lost in PCa. In addition, loss of PTEN was associated with increased intracellular succinate accumulation and higher expression of NaDC3. However, siRNA-mediated knockdown of NaDC3 only moderately influenced succinate metabolism and did not affect PCa cell growth. By contrast, mersalyl acid—a broad acting inhibitor of dicarboxylic acid carriers—strongly interfered with intracellular succinate levels and resulted in reduced numbers of PCa cells. These findings suggest that blocking NaDC3 alone is insufficient to intervene with altered succinate metabolism associated with PCa. In conclusion, our data provide evidence that loss of PTEN is associated with increased succinate accumulation and enhanced succinate-supported respiration, which cannot be overcome by inhibiting the succinate transporter NaDC3 alone

H-CRRETAWAC-OH, a Lead Structure for the Development of Radiotracer Targeting Integrin 5 1 ?

Imaging of angiogenic processes is of great interest in preclinical research as well as in clinical settings. The most commonly addressed target structure for imaging angiogenesis is the integrin 3 . Here we describe the synthesis and evaluation of [ 18 F]FProp-Cys * -Arg-Arg-Glu-Thr-Ala-Trp-Ala-Cys * -OH, a radiolabelled peptide designed to selectively target the integrin 5 1 . Conjugation of 4-nitrophenyl-(RS)-2-[ 18 F]fluoropropionate provided [ 18 F]FProp-Cys * -Arg-Arg-Glu-Thr-Ala-Trp-Ala-Cys * -OH in high radiochemical purity (>95%) and a radiochemical yield of approx. 55%. In vitro evaluation showed 5 1 binding affinity in the nanomolar range, whereas affinity to 3 and 3 was >50 M. Cell uptake studies using human melanoma M21 ( 3 -positive and 5 1 -negative), human melanoma M21-L ( 3 -negative and 5 1 -negative), and human prostate carcinoma DU145 ( 3 -negative and 5 1 -positive) confirmed receptor-specific binding. The radiotracer was stable in human serum and showed low protein binding. Biodistribution studies showed tumour uptake ranging from 2.5 to 3.5% ID/g between 30 and 120 min post-injection. However, blocking studies and studies using mice bearing 5 1 -negative M21 tumours did not confirm receptorspecific uptake of [ 18 F]FProp-Cys * -Arg-Arg-Glu-Thr-Ala-Trp-Ala-Cys * -OH, although this radiopeptide revealed high affinity and substantial selectivity to 5 1 in vitro. Further experiments are needed to study the in vivo metabolism of this peptide and to develop improved radiopeptide candidates suitable for PET imaging of 5 1 expression in vivo

H-CRRETAWAC-OH, a Lead Structure for the Development of Radiotracer Targeting Integrin α5β1?

Imaging of angiogenic processes is of great interest in preclinical research as well as in clinical settings. The most commonly addressed target structure for imaging angiogenesis is the integrin αvβ3. Here we describe the synthesis and evaluation of [18F]FProp-Cys*-Arg-Arg-Glu-Thr-Ala-Trp-Ala-Cys*-OH, a radiolabelled peptide designed to selectively target the integrin α5β1. Conjugation of 4-nitrophenyl-(RS)-2-[18F]fluoropropionate provided [18F]FProp-Cys*-Arg-Arg-Glu-Thr-Ala-Trp-Ala-Cys*-OH in high radiochemical purity (>95%) and a radiochemical yield of approx. 55%. In vitro evaluation showed α5β1 binding affinity in the nanomolar range, whereas affinity to αvβ3 and αIIbβ3 was >50 μM. Cell uptake studies using human melanoma M21 (αvβ3-positive and α5β1-negative), human melanoma M21-L (αvβ3-negative and α5β1-negative), and human prostate carcinoma DU145 (αvβ3-negative and α5β1-positive) confirmed receptor-specific binding. The radiotracer was stable in human serum and showed low protein binding. Biodistribution studies showed tumour uptake ranging from 2.5 to 3.5% ID/g between 30 and 120 min post-injection. However, blocking studies and studies using mice bearing α5β1-negative M21 tumours did not confirm receptor-specific uptake of [18F]FProp-Cys*-Arg-Arg-Glu-Thr-Ala-Trp-Ala-Cys*-OH, although this radiopeptide revealed high affinity and substantial selectivity to α5β1 in vitro. Further experiments are needed to study the in vivo metabolism of this peptide and to develop improved radiopeptide candidates suitable for PET imaging of α5β1 expression in vivo