Human bone marrow stromal cells protect prostate cancer cells from TRAIL-induced apoptosis.

Tumor-derived OPG has recently been shown to protect prostate cancer cells from apoptosis. This study has confirmed that bone marrow stromal cell-derived OPG also suppresses cytokine-induced apoptosis in this tumor type, suggesting that it may be the presence of bone-derived OPG that is responsible for the observed preference of these cells in colonizing the skeleton. INTRODUCTION - Metastasis to the skeleton occurs in around 70% of patients with advanced prostate cancer (CaP), suggesting that the bone microenvironment may provide factors that favor the growth and survival of prostate cancer cells. Osteoprotegerin (OPG) is a molecule involved in bone remodeling, where it acts as an inhibitor of osteoclastogenesis, but it is also a decoy receptor for TRAIL/Apo 2L, a member of the TNF family of pro-apoptotic cytokines. The aim of this study was to determine whether OPG produced by human bone marrow stromal cells could protect prostate cancer cells from TRAIL-induced apoptosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS - Human bone marrow stromal cell cultures were generated from bone biopsies taken from newly diagnosed untreated CaP patients with (M1) or without (M0) bony metastasis. The stromal origin of these cells was confirmed by Western blot analysis using antibodies raised to stromal and epithelial markers. Media were conditioned over the cultures of these cells for 4 days, and levels of OPG were determined using an ELISA. The human prostate cancer cell line PC3 was challenged with TRAIL (50 ng/ml) in fresh media or in media supplemented with 50% conditioned media, and apoptosis was assessed using DAPI stain. The effects of specific removal of OPG activity by immunoprecipitation or by co-treatment of cultures with an alternative ligand for OPG (RANKL) were also tested. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS - The presence of stromal cell conditioned media in PC3 culture significantly reduced TRAIL-induced apoptosis. All stromal cell lines isolated were shown to express OPG and to release this protein into the conditioned media. Immunoprecipitation of OPG and co-treatment of cultures with sRANKL reversed the protective effects of the conditioned media. These data suggest that at least part of the survival advantage gained by CaP cells in colonizing bone may be caused by the production of OPG by tumor-associated stromal cells.</p

Evaluation of the frequency of putative prostate cancer stem cells in primary and metastatic prostate cancer

Tumour cells with a stem cell-like phenotype have recently been identified in prostate tumors and it has been suggested that this population may be responsible for the diversity of cell types within tumors and also for the initiation of metastases. These cells carry a number of defined markers: they are cd133 and cd44+ve and express high levels of alpha2beta1 integrin. In this study we have, for the first time, assessed matched primary and bone marrow biopsies from prostate cancer patients for the distribution of cells carrying these and a number of other putative stem cell markers

Eight-plex iTRAQ analysis of variant metastatic human prostate cancer cells identifies candidate biomarkers of progression: an exploratory study.

BACKGROUND: Due to the heterogeneity in the biological behavior of prostate cancer, biomarkers that can reliably distinguish indolent from aggressive disease are urgently needed to inform treatment choices. METHODS: We employed 8-plex isobaric Tags for Relative and Absolute Quantitation (iTRAQ), to profile the proteomes of two distinct panels of isogenic prostate cancer cells with varying growth and metastatic potentials, in order to identify novel biomarkers associated with progression. The LNCaP, LNCaP-Pro5, and LNCaP-LN3 panel of cells represent a model of androgen-responsive prostate cancer, while the PC-3, PC-3M, and PC-3M-LN4 panel represent a model of androgen-insensitive disease. RESULTS: Of the 245 unique proteins identified and quantified (>or=95% confidence; >or=2 peptides/protein), 17 showed significant differential expression (>or=+/-1.5), in at least one of the variant LNCaP cells relative to parental cells. Similarly, comparisons within the PC-3 panel identified 45 proteins to show significant differential expression in at least one of the variant PC-3 cells compared with parental cells. Differential expression of selected candidates was verified by Western blotting or immunocytochemistry, and corresponding mRNA expression was determined by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Immunostaining of prostate tissue microarrays for ERp5, one of the candidates identified, showed a significant higher immunoexpression in pre-malignant lesions compared with non-malignant epithelium (P < 0.0001, Mann-Whitney U-test), and in high Gleason grade (4-5) versus low grade (2-3) cancers (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides proof of principle for the application of an 8-plex iTRAQ approach to uncover clinically relevant candidate biomarkers for prostate cancer progression

High aldehyde dehydrogenase activity identifies tumor-initiating and metastasis-initiating cells in human prostate cancer

Metastatic progression of advanced prostate cancer is a major clinical problem. Identifying the cell(s) of origin in prostate cancer and its distant metastases may permit the development of more effective treatment and preventive therapies. In this study, aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activity was used as a basis to isolate and compare subpopulations of primary human prostate cancer cells and cell lines. ALDH-high prostate cancer cells displayed strongly elevated clonogenicity and migratory behavior in vitro. More strikingly, ALDH-high cells readily formed distant metastases with strongly enhanced tumor progression at both orthotopic and metastatic sites in preclinical models. Several ALDH isoforms were expressed in human prostate cancer cells and clinical specimens of primary prostate tumors with matched bone metastases. Our findings suggest that ALDH-based viable cell sorting can be used to identify and characterize tumor-initiating and, more importantly perhaps, metastasis-initiating cells in human prostate cancer