Complex formation between human prostate-specific antigen and protease inhibitors in mouse plasma

Protease-activated pore-forming peptides for the treatment and imaging of prostate cancer

A common hallmark of cancers with highly aggressive phenotypes is increased proteolysis in the tumor and the surrounding microenvironment. Prostate cancer has a number of proteases uniquely associated with it that may play various important roles in disease progression. In this report, we utilize the peritumoral proteolytic activity of prostate cancer to activate engineered peptide constructs for the treatment and noninvasive imaging of prostate cancer. Using a modular "propeptide" approach, a cationic diastereomeric pore-forming peptide domain was linked to an inactivating acidic peptide domain. The inactivating acidic peptide domain was engineered to be a cleavable substrate for the secreted serine protease prostate-specific antigen (PSA) or the transmembrane metalloprotease prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA). The propeptides were then evaluated in a direct comparison study. Both the PSA and PSMA activated propeptides were found to be cytotoxic to prostate cancer cells in vitro. In vivo, however, treatment of LNCaP and CWR22Rv1 xenografts with the PSMA propeptide resulted in a pronounced cytostatic effect when compared with xenografts treated with the PSA propeptide or the cationic diastereomeric peptide alone. The PSMA activated propeptide also proved to be an effective optical imaging probe in vivo when labeled with a near-infrared fluorophore. These data suggest that protease-activated pore-forming peptides could potentially be used for both imaging and treating prostate cancer.

PSA forms complexes with α1-antichymotrypsin in prostate

BACKGROUND

PSA is the most useful prostate cancer marker. However, its levels are increased also in some non-malignant conditions. In circulation, the majority of PSA is complexed with protease inhibitors, including α(1) -antichymotrypsin (ACT). The proportion of the PSA-ACT complex is higher in patients with prostate cancer than in controls without cancer. The expression of ACT has been shown to be higher in prostate cancer than in benign prostatic hyperplasia. However, results regarding the extent which PSA forms complexes within the prostate and whether there are differences in complex formation between normal and malignant prostatic tissue are inconsistent and limited.

METHODS

We studied complex formation of PSA secreted by cultured human prostate tissues and in the tissue by in situ proximity ligation assay (PLA). Free, total and active PSA, and the PSA-ACT complex were determined in tissue culture media by immunoassays, immunoblotting, and chromatographic methods.

RESULTS

The majority of PSA in tissue culture medium was free and enzymatically active. However, a significant proportion (1.6 ± 0.5%) of immunoreactive PSA was found to be complexed with ACT. Complex formation was confirmed by in situ PLA, which showed more intense staining of PSA-ACT in cancers with Gleason grade 3 than in adjacent benign tissues from the same patients.

CONCLUSIONS

These results show that PSA forms complexes already within the prostate and that PSA-ACT levels are increased in moderately differentiated prostate cancer tissue. This may explain, at least partially, why the ratio of serum PSA-ACT to total PSA is increased in prostate cancer.

Immunotherapy of tumors with α2-macroglobulin-antigen complexes pre-formed in vivo

The cell surface receptor CD91/LRP-1 binds to immunogenic heat shock proteins (HSP) and α₂M ligands to elicit T cell immune responses. In order to generate specific immune responses, the peptides chaperoned by HSPs or α₂M are cross-presented on MHC molecules to T cells. While the immunogenic HSPs naturally chaperone peptides within cells and can be purified as an intact HSP-peptide complex, the peptides have had to be complexed artificially to α₂M in previous studies. Here, we show that immunogenic α₂M-peptide complexes can be isolated from the blood of tumor-bearing mice without further experimental manipulation in vitro demonstrating the natural association of tumor antigens with α₂M. The naturally formed immunogenic α₂M-peptide complexes are effective in prophylaxis and therapy of cancer in mouse models. We investigate the mechanisms of cross-presentation of associated peptides and co-stimulation by APCs that interact with α₂M. These data have implications for vaccine design in immunotherapy of cancer and infectious disease.