Type-1 insulin-like growth factor receptor reexpression in the malignant phenotype of SV40-T-immortalized human prostate epithelial cells enhances apoptosis

Insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor affects the survival of primary prostate cancer patients depending on TMPRSS2-ERG status

BACKGROUND

Prostate cancer (PCa) is characterized by clinical and biological heterogeneity and has differential outcomes and mortality rates. Therefore, it is necessary to identify molecular alterations to define new therapeutic strategies based on the risk of progression. In this study, the prognostic relevance of the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system was examined in molecular subtypes defined by TMPRSS2-ERG (T2E) gene fusion within a series of patients with primary localized PCa.

METHODS

A cohort of 270 formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded (FFPE) primary PCa samples from patients with more than 5 years' follow-up was collected. IGF-1R, IGF-1, IGFBP-3 and INSR expression was analyzed using quantitative RT-PCR. The T2E status and immunohistochemical ERG findings were considered in the analyses. The association with both biochemical and clinical progression-free survival (BPFS and PFS, respectively) was evaluated for the different molecular subtypes using the Kaplan-Meier proportional risk log-rank test and the Cox proportional hazards model.

RESULTS

An association between IGF-1R overexpression and better BPFS was found in T2E-negative patients (35.3% BPFS, p-value = 0.016). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that IGF-1R expression constitutes an independent variable in T2E-negative patients [HR: 0.41. CI 95% (0.2-0.82), p = 0.013]. These data were confirmed using immunohistochemistry of ERG as subrogate of T2E. High IGF-1 expression correlated with prolonged BPFS and PFS independent of the T2E status.

CONCLUSIONS

IGF-1R, a reported target of T2E, constitutes an independent factor for good prognosis in T2E-negative PCa. Quantitative evaluation of IGF-1/IGF-1R expression combined with molecular assessment of T2E status or ERG protein expression represents a useful marker for tumor progression in localized PCa.

Igf-I regulates pheochromocytoma cell proliferation and survival in vitro and in vivo

IGFs are involved in malignant transformation and growth of several tissues, including the adrenal medulla. The present study was designed to evaluate the impact of IGF-I on pheochromocytoma development. We used a murine pheochromocytoma (MPC) cell line (MPC4/30) and an animal model with a reduction of 75% in circulating IGF-I levels [liver-IGF-I-deficient (LID) mice] to perform studies in vitro and in vivo. We found that, in culture, IGF-I stimulation increases proliferation, migration, and anchorage-independent growth, whereas it inhibits apoptosis of MPC cells. When injected to control and to LID mice, MPC cells grow and form tumors with features of pheochromocytoma. Six weeks after cell inoculation, all control mice developed sc tumors. In contrast, in 73% of LID mice, tumor development was delayed to 7-12 wk, and the remaining 27% did not develop tumors up to 12 wk after inoculation. LID mice harboring MPC cells and treated with recombinant human IGF-I (LID+) developed tumors as controls. Tumors developed in control, LID, and LID+ mice had similar histology and were similarly positive for IGF-I receptor expression. The apoptotic index was higher in tumors from LID mice compared with those from control mice, whereas vascular density was decreased. In summary, our work demonstrates that IGF-I has a critical role in maintaining tumor phenotype and survival of already transformed pheochromocytoma cells and is required for the initial establishment of these tumors, providing encouragement to carry on research studies to address the IGF-I/IGF-I receptor system as a target of therapeutic strategies for pheochromocytoma treatment in the future.

Wilms' tumor 1 silencing decreases the viability and chemoresistance of glioblastoma cells in vitro: a potential role for IGF-1R de-repression

Wilms' tumor 1 (WT1) is a transcription factor with a multitude of downstream targets that have wide-ranging effects in non-glioma cell lines. Though its expression in glioblastomas is now well-documented, the role of WT1 in these tumors remains poorly defined. We hypothesized that WT1 functions as an oncogene to enhance glioblastoma viability and chemoresistance. WT1's role was examined by studying the effect of WT1 silencing and overexpression on DNA damage, apoptosis and cell viability. Results indicated that WT1 silencing adversely affected glioblastoma viability, at times, in synergy with 1,3-bis(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea (BCNU) and cisplatin. To investigate other mechanisms through which WT1 could affect viability, we measured cell cycle distribution, senescence, and autophagy. WT1 silencing had no effect on these processes. Lastly, we examined WT1 regulation of IGF-1R expression. Counterintuitively, upregulation of IGF-1R was evident after WT1 silencing. In conclusion, WT1 functions as a survival factor in glioblastomas, possibly through inhibition of IGF-1R expression.

Altered longevity-assurance activity of p53:p44 in the mouse causes memory loss, neurodegeneration and premature death

The longevity-assurance activity of the tumor suppressor p53 depends on the levels of Δ40p53 (p44), a short and naturally occurring isoform of the p53 gene. As such, increased dosage of p44 in the mouse leads to accelerated aging and short lifespan. Here we show that mice homozygous for a transgene encoding p44 (p44^+/+) display cognitive decline and synaptic impairment early in life. The synaptic deficits are attributed to hyperactivation of insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R) signaling and altered metabolism of the microtubule-binding protein tau. In fact, they were rescued by either Igf1r or Mapt haploinsufficiency. When expressing a human or a ‘humanized’ form of the amyloid precursor protein (APP), p44^+/+ animals developed a selective degeneration of memory-forming and -retrieving areas of the brain, and died prematurely. Mechanistically, the neurodegeneration was caused by both paraptosis- and autophagy-like cell deaths. These results indicate that altered longevity-assurance activity of p53:p44 causes memory loss and neurodegeneration by affecting IGF-1R signaling. Importantly, Igf1r haploinsufficiency was also able to correct the synaptic deficits of APP_695/swe mice, a model of Alzheimer’s disease.

Differential localization of MT1-MMP in human prostate cancer tissue: role of IGF-1R in MT1-MMP expression

BACKGROUND

MT1-MMP is a metalloproteinase involved in prostate cancer metastasis. The IGF-1R is a tyrosine kinase receptor involved with tumor progression and metastasis. The purpose of this investigation was to examine MT1-MMP and IGF-1R expression and localization in prostate cancer tissues and explore the role of IGF-1R in regulating MT1-MMP in prostate cancer cell lines.

METHODS

Immunohistochemistry was utilized to study MT1-MMP and IGF-1R expression in human prostate tissues. IGF-1R regulation of MT1-MMP expression was determined by gene promoter analysis, quantitative RT-PCR and Western blot analysis following pharmacological inhibition of the receptor in PC-3N cells and treatment of LNCaP cells with androgen and IGF-1.

RESULTS

MT1-MMP expression was high in the apical regions of the luminal cells in PIN and prostate cancer and less intense in the basalateral regions of benign tissues. IGF-1R was expressed primarily in the basal cells of normal glands and highly expressed in prostate cancer. Inhibition of IGF-1R in PC-3N cells decreased MT1-MMP expression and treatment of LNCaP cells with a synthetic androgen and IGF-1 increased MT1-MMP expression.

CONCLUSIONS

These data demonstrate that MT1-MMP is highly expressed in the apical cytoplasmic regions of the luminal cells in PIN and prostate cancer when compared to basalateral cytoplasmic membrane staining in benign glands. Additionally, we demonstrate that IGF-1R is highly expressed in human prostate carcinoma. These findings suggest that MT1-MMP localization and IGF-1R expression in prostate carcinoma could be predictive biomarkers for aggressive disease and support IGF-1R as a promising therapeutic target to decrease processes of prostate cancer metastasis.

Interaction of IGF signaling and the androgen receptor in prostate cancer progression

The insulin-like growth factor type I receptor (IGF-IR) has been suggested to play an important role in prostate cancer progression and possibly in the progression to androgen-independent (AI) disease. The term AI may not be entirely correct, in that recent data suggest that expression of androgen receptor (AR) and androgen-regulated genes is the primary association with prostate cancer progression after hormone ablation. Therefore, signaling through other growth factors has been thought to play a role in AR-mediated prostate cancer progression to AI disease in the absence of androgen ligand. However, existing data on how IGF-IR signaling interacts with AR activation in prostate cancer are conflicting. In this Prospect article, we review some of the published data on the mechanisms of IGF-IR/AR interaction and present new evidence that IGF-IR signaling may modulate AR compartmentation and thus alter AR activity in prostate cancer cells. Inhibition of IGF-IR signaling can result in cytoplasmic AR retention and a significant change in androgen-regulated gene expression. Translocation of AR from the cytoplasm to the nucleus may be associated with IGF-induced dephosphorylation. Since fully humanized antibodies targeting the IGF-IR are now in clinical trials, the current review is intended to reveal the mechanisms of potential therapeutic effects of these antibodies on AI prostate cancers.

Increased Insulin-Like Growth Factor I Receptor Expression and Signaling Are Components of Androgen-Independent Progression in a Lineage-Derived Prostate Cancer Progression Model

Apoptosis and inhibition of mitosis are primary mechanisms mediating androgen ablation therapy-induced regression of prostate cancer (PCa). However, PCa readily becomes androgen independent, leading to fatal disease. Up-regulated growth and survival signaling is implicated in development of resistance to androgen ablation therapy. We are testing the hypothesis that insulin-like growth factor (IGF) responsiveness is required for androgen-independent (AI) progression. Using the LNCaP human PCa progression model, we have determined that IGF-I-mediated protection from apoptotic stress and enhanced mitotic activity is androgen dependent in LNCaP cells but is androgen independent in lineage-derived C4-2 cells. Both cell lines exhibit androgen-responsive patterns of IGF-I receptor (IGF-IR) expression, activation, and signaling to insulin receptor substrate-2 and AKT. However, C4-2 cells express higher levels of IGF-IR mRNA and protein and exhibit enhanced IGF-I-mediated phosphorylation and downstream signaling under androgen-deprived conditions. In comparisons of naive and AI metastatic human PCa specimens, we have confirmed that IGF-IR levels are elevated in advanced disease. Together with our LNCaP/C4-2 AI progression model data, these results indicate that increased IGF-IR expression is associated with AI antiapoptotic and promitotic IGF signaling in PCa disease progression.

Androgen receptor (AR) expression in AR-negative prostate cancer cells results in differential effects of DHT and IGF-I on proliferation and AR activity between localized and metastatic tumors

BACKGROUND

Two features of the progression from organ-confined to metastatic prostate cancer are dysregulation of the androgen receptor (AR) and a decrease in insulin-like growth factor-type-I receptor (IGF-IR) expression. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of changes in IGF-IR expression on AR activity.

METHODS

M12 human prostate cells were stably transfected with an AR expression construct to produce the M12-AR parental (PAR) cell line. PAR cells were implanted orthotopically into nude mice and M12-AR primary (PRI) cell lines were derived from intraprostatic tumors and metastatic cell lines (MET) were derived from PRI tumors that had metastasized to diaphragm or lung.

RESULTS

Tumor formation in the prostate by PAR cells was decreased significantly compared to M12 controls. PAR, PRI, and MET cells expressed equivalent amounts of AR protein; however, IGF-IR expression was increased significantly in PAR and PRI cells. IGF-IR expression decreased in MET lines to the levels seen in M12 control cells. IGF-I significantly enhanced dihydrotestosterone (DHT)-stimulated, but not basal, AR transcriptional activity in PRI cells. In MET cells, IGF-I significantly suppressed DHT-stimulated transcriptional activity. In MET cells in which the IGF-IR was re-expressed from a retroviral vector, the effects of DHT and IGF-I on AR activity were similar to those seen in PRI cells.

CONCLUSIONS

This study demonstrates that the changes in IGF-IR expression exhibited by this model of metastatic progression cause significant alterations in AR signaling and suggest that this interaction may be an important aspect of the changes seen in AR function in disease progression in vivo.

Paraptosis: mediation by MAP kinases and inhibition by AIP-1/Alix

Programmed cell death (pcd) may take the form of apoptotic or nonapoptotic pcd. Whereas cysteine aspartyl-specific proteases (caspases) mediate apoptosis, the mediators of nonapoptotic cell death programs are much less well characterized. Here, we report that paraptosis, an alternative, nonapoptotic cell death program that may be induced by the insulin-like growth factor I receptor (among other inducers), is mediated by mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) and inhibited by AIP-1/Alix. The inhibition by AIP-1/Alix is specific for paraptosis since apoptosis was not inhibited. Caspases were not activated in this paradigm, nor were caspase inhibitors effective in blocking cell death. However, insulin-like growth factor I receptor (IGFIR)-induced paraptosis was inhibited by MEK-2-specific inhibitors and by antisense oligonucleotides directed against c-jun N-terminal kinase-1 (JNK-1). These results suggest that IGFIR-induced paraptosis is mediated by MAPKs, and inhibited by AIP-1/Alix.

High expression of Met/hepatocyte growth factor receptor suppresses tumorigenicity in NCI-H1264 lung carcinoma cells

The protein product of c-met proto-oncogene, Met, is a tyrosine kinase receptor for the hepatocyte growth factor (HGF). Met receptor is expressed in normal human bronchial epithelium. In comparison, its expression in squamous cell carcinoma (SQCC) of the lung is markedly decreased in a great majority of cases. To understand further the role of Met receptor overexpression in non-small-cell lung carcinoma, we forced-expressed the full-length met cDNA in the NCI-H1264 (H1264) lung carcinoma cell line with low constitutive expression of this receptor. In vitro studies demonstrated that increased Met expression in H1264 cells resulted in strong inhibition of their ability to form soft agar colonies and in marked suppression of tumorigenicity in the subcutaneous tissue of immune-deficient mice. This is despite inconsistent alteration in the proliferation rate on plastic surfaces. Tumor cells explanted from occasional xenograft tumors formed by the Met-overexpressing H1264 cells also demonstrated marked down-regulation of the receptor protein levels as compared to the transplanted cells. The results suggest that constitutive overexpression of Met receptor may negatively regulate the malignancy of certain human lung cancer cells.

Transcriptional regulation of insulin-like growth factor-I receptor gene expression in prostate cancer cells

A marked decrease in the type 1 insulin-like growth factor (IGF) receptor (IGF-IR) occurs in prostate epithelial cells during transformation from the benign to the metastatic state. One of the principal regulators of IGF-IR gene expression, the WT1 tumor suppressor, is expressed in prostate cancer and in prostate cancer cell lines. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the decrease in IGF-IR expression was transcriptionally regulated, and whether WT1 action may be involved in the repression of the IGF-IR gene in prostate cancer cells. The P69 cell line was derived by immortalization of human primary prostate epithelial cells with simian virus-40 T antigen and is rarely tumorigenic. The M12 line was derived from the P69 line by selection for tumor formation in nude mice and is tumorigeneic and metastatic. P69 cells express 20,000 IGF-IR/cell, whereas M12 cells express 3,500 IGF-IR/cell. These differences in receptor number are reflected in proportional differences in IGF-IR mRNA levels. To assess IGF-IR promoter activity in these cell lines, each was transiently transfected with luciferase reporter vectors containing the IGF-IR gene transcription start site and 476 bp of 5'-flanking sequence, 640 bp of 5'-untranslated region sequence, or both regions. The promoter activity of the full-length construct was 50% lower (P < 0.01) in M12 cells compared with P69 cells, the activity of the 5'-flanking region construct was 53% lower (P < 0.0001), and that of the 5'-untranslated region construct was 36% lower (P = 0.01). P69 clones stably transfected with a WT1 expression vector exhibited decreased expression of the endogenous IGF-IR gene and decreased promoter activity in transient transfection assays with IGF-IR promoter constructs containing multiple WT1 binding sites. The observed reduction in endogenous IGF-IR expression was sufficient to inhibit IGF-I-stimulated cell proliferation. These data suggest that most of the decreased expression of the IGF-IR seen in malignant prostate epithelium is the result of transcriptional repression of the IGF-IR gene, and that this repression may be due in part to the increased expression of the WT1 tumor suppressor in metastatic prostate cancer.

An alternative, nonapoptotic form of programmed cell death

The term apoptosis often has been used interchangeably with the term programmed cell death. Here we describe a form of programmed cell death that is distinct from apoptosis by the criteria of morphology, biochemistry, and response to apoptosis inhibitors. Morphologically, this alternative form of programmed cell death appears during development and in some cases of neurodegeneration. Despite its lack of response to caspase inhibitors and Bcl-x(L), we show that this form of cell death is driven by an alternative caspase-9 activity that is Apaf-1-independent. Characterization of this alternative form of programmed cell death should lead to new insight into cell death programs and their roles in development and degeneration.

Tyrosine kinases expressed in vivo by human prostate cancer bone marrow metastases and loss of the type 1 insulin-like growth factor receptor

An important biological feature of prostate cancer (PCa) is its marked preference for bone marrow as a metastatic site. To identify factors that may support the growth of PCa in bone marrow, expression of receptor and nonreceptor tyrosine kinases by androgen-independent PCa bone marrow metastases was assessed. Bone marrow biopsies largely replaced by PCa were analyzed using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction amplification with degenerate primers that amplified the conserved kinase domain. Sequence analyses of the cloned products demonstrated expression of multiple kinases. Expression of the receptor and nonreceptor tyrosine kinases, alpha platelet-derived growth factor receptor and Jak 1, respectively, was confirmed by immunohistochemistry. In contrast, the type 1 insulin-like growth factor receptor, thought to play a role in PCa development, was lost in metastatic PCa. These results implicate several specific growth factors and signaling pathways in metastatic androgen-independent PCa and indicate that loss of the type 1 insulin-like growth factor receptor contributes to PCa progression.