miR-21: an oncomir on strike in prostate cancer.

BACKGROUND: Aberrant expression of microRNAs, small non-coding RNA molecules that post-transcriptionally repress gene expression, seems to be causatively linked to the pathogenesis of cancer. In this context, miR-21 was found to be overexpressed in different human cancers (e.g. glioblastoma, breast cancer). In addition, it is thought to be endowed with oncogenic properties due to its ability to negatively modulate the expression of tumor-suppressor genes (e.g. PTEN) and to cause the reversion of malignant phenotype when knocked- down in several tumor models. On the basis of these findings, miR-21 has been proposed as a widely exploitable cancer-related target. However, scanty information is available concerning the relevance of miR-21 for prostate cancer. In the present study, we investigated the role of miR-21 and its potential as a therapeutic target in two prostate cancer cell lines, characterized by different miR-21 expression levels and PTEN gene status. RESULTS: We provide evidence that miR-21 knockdown in prostate cancer cells is not sufficient per se i) to affect the proliferative and invasive potential or the chemo- and radiosensitivity profiles or ii) to modulate the expression of the tumor-suppressors PTEN and Pdcd4, which in other tumor types were found to be regulated by miR-21. We also show that miR-21 is not differently expressed in carcinomas and matched normal tissues obtained from 36 untreated prostate cancer patients subjected to radical prostatectomy. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, our data suggest that miR-21 is not a central player in the onset of prostate cancer and that its single hitting is not a valuable therapeutic strategy in the disease. This supports the notion that the oncogenic properties of miR-21 could be cell and tissue dependent and that the potential role of a given miRNA as a therapeutic target should be contextualized with respect to the disease.

EC-70124, a Novel Glycosylated Indolocarbazole Multikinase Inhibitor, Reverts Tumorigenic and Stem Cell Properties in Prostate Cancer by Inhibiting STAT3 and NF-κB.

Cancer stem cells (CSC) contribute to disease progression and treatment failure in prostate cancer because of their intrinsic resistance to current therapies. The transcription factors NF-κB and STAT3 are frequently activated in advanced prostate cancer and sustain expansion of prostate CSCs. EC-70124 is a novel chimeric indolocarbazole compound generated by metabolic engineering of the biosynthetic pathways of glycosylated indolocarbazoles, such as staurosporine and rebeccamycin. In vitro kinome analyses revealed that EC-70124 acted as a multikinase inhibitor with potent activity against IKKß and JAK2. In this study, we show that EC-70124 blocked concomitantly NF-κB and STAT3 in prostate cancer cells and particularly prostate CSCs, which exhibited overactivation of these transcription factors. Phosphorylation of IkB and STAT3 (Tyr705), the immediate targets of IKKß and JAK2, respectively, was rapidly inhibited in vitro by EC-70124 at concentrations that were well below plasma levels in mice. Furthermore, the drug blocked activation of NF-κB and STAT3 reporters and suppressed transcription of their target genes. Treatment with EC-70124 impaired proliferation and colony formation in vitro and delayed development of prostate tumor xenografts. Notably, EC-70124 had profound effects on the prostate CSC subpopulation both in vitro and in vivo Thus, EC-70124 is a potent inhibitor of the NF-κB and STAT3 signaling pathways and blocked tumor growth and maintenance of prostate CSCs. EC-70124 may provide the basis for developing new therapeutic strategies that combine agents directed to the CSC component and the bulk tumor cell population for treatment of advanced prostate cancer. Mol Cancer Ther; 15(5); 806-18. ©2016 AACR.

ETS transcription factor ESE1/ELF3 orchestrates a positive feedback loop that constitutively activates NF-κB and drives prostate cancer progression.

Chromosomal translocations leading to deregulated expression of ETS transcription factors are frequent in prostate tumors. Here, we report a novel mechanism leading to oncogenic activation of the ETS factor ESE1/ELF3 in prostate tumors. ESE1/ELF3 was overexpressed in human primary and metastatic tumors. It mediated transforming phenotypes in vitro and in vivo and induced an inflammatory transcriptome with changes in relevant oncogenic pathways. ESE1/ELF3 was induced by interleukin (IL)-1ß through NF-κB and was a crucial mediator of the phenotypic and transcriptional changes induced by IL-1ß in prostate cancer cells. This linkage was mediated by interaction of ESE1/ELF3 with the NF-κB subunits p65 and p50, acting by enhancing their nuclear translocation and transcriptional activity and by inducing p50 transcription. Supporting these findings, gene expression profiling revealed an enrichment of NF-κB effector functions in prostate cancer cells or tumors expressing high levels of ESE1/ELF3. We observed concordant upregulation of ESE1/ELF3 and NF-κB in human prostate tumors that was associated with adverse prognosis. Collectively, our results define an important new mechanistic link between inflammatory signaling and the progression of prostate cancer.

ESE3/EHF controls epithelial cell differentiation and its loss leads to prostate tumors with mesenchymal and stem-like features.

Cancer stem cells (CSC) play a significant role in tumor progression, disease recurrence, and treatment failure. Here, we show that the endogenously expressed ETS transcription factor ESE3/EHF controls prostate epithelial cell differentiation and stem-like potential. We found that loss of ESE3/EHF induced epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), stem-like features, and tumor-initiating and metastatic properties in prostate epithelial cells, and reexpression of ESE3/EHF inhibited the stem-like properties and tumorigenic potential of prostate cancer cells. Mechanistically, ESE3/EHF repressed the expression of key EMT and CSC genes, including TWIST1, ZEB2, BMI1, and POU5F1. Analysis of human tissue microarrays showed that reduced ESE3/EHF expression is an early event in tumorigenesis, frequently occurring independently of other ETS gene alterations. Additional analyses linked loss of ESE3/EHF expression to a distinct group of prostate tumors with distinctive molecular and biologic characteristics, including increased expression of EMT and CSC genes. Low ESE3/EHF expression was also associated with increased biochemical recurrence of prostate cancer and reduced overall survival after prostatectomy. Collectively, our findings define a key role for ESE3/EHF in the development of a subset of prostate tumors and highlight the clinical importance of identifying molecularly defined tumor subgroups.

miR-205 Exerts tumor-suppressive functions in human prostate through down-regulation of protein kinase Cepsilon.

Limited information is available concerning the expression and role of microRNAs in prostate cancer. In this study, we investigated the involvement of miR-205 in prostate carcinogenesis. Significantly lower miR-205 expression levels were found in cancer than in normal prostate cell lines as well as in tumor compared with matched normal prostate tissues, with a particularly pronounced reduction in carcinomas from patients with local-regionally disseminated disease. Restoring the expression of miR-205 in prostate cancer cells resulted in cell rearrangements consistent with a mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition, such as up-regulation of E-cadherin and reduction of cell locomotion and invasion, and in the down-regulation of several oncogenes known to be involved in disease progression (i.e., interleukin 6, caveolin-1, EZH2). Our evidence suggests that these events are driven by the concurrent repression of specific predicted miR-205 targets, namely N-chimaerin, ErbB3, E2F1, E2F5, ZEB2, and protein kinase Cepsilon. Strikingly, the latter seemed to play a direct role in regulating epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition. In fact, its down-regulation led to a cell phenotype largely reminiscent of that of cells ectopically expressing miR-205. Overall, we showed for the first time that miR-205 exerts a tumor-suppressive effect in human prostate by counteracting epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and reducing cell migration/invasion, at least in part through the down-regulation of protein kinase Cepsilon.