Single Molecule Unlocks Survival Tactics of Prostate Cancer

From a team at the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, a series of studies has shown that a single molecule is at the heart of one of the most basic survival tactics of prostate cancer cells.

A paper published today by the Public Library of Science identifies a microRNA called miR-125b as a potential target for treatments designed to stop the proliferation of prostate cancer cells, particularly in patients who have developed a late-stage form of the disease resistant to androgen deprivation therapy.

Prostate Cancer Screening
PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) test and Digital Rectal Examination are two tests that allow detection of prostate cancer at early stages.

MicroRNAs are small, single strands of RNA that regulate gene expression processes between larger strands of RNA - that is, they play vital roles in turning genes on and off. RNA, or ribonucleic acid, is a family of large molecules involved in the coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes.

The team, led by UC Davis urology professor Ralph de Vere White, director of the comprehensive cancer center and senior author on the study, had found in previous studies over the last several years that miR-125b is highly expressed in human prostate cancer, turning off some tumor genes that if left unaltered would have made therapy more effective. This was particularly true at the point in late-stage treatment when patients levels of testosterone, or androgen, have purposely been lowered as a form of treatment for metastatic prostate cancer. Testosterone is a driver of tumor growth.

"Our latest research demonstrates that elevated MiR-125B in prostate cancer cells is a mechanism that thwarts our efforts to eradicate the disease," said de Vere White.

The UC Davis study details exactly how miR-125b represses a protein called p14ARF in two prostate cancer cell lines and in a mouse model. The study is important because it is the first to identify miR-125b as a direct regulator of p14ARF in metastatic prostate cancer cells.

Prostate Specific Antigen [PSA] & Prostate Cancer Diagnosis
PSA blood test is specific to prostate gland but not necessarily a cancer specific test but is commonly used to diagnose prostate cancer.

P14ARF is an important link in the pathway between two genes that suppress prostate cancer cells, p53 and PUMA. When miR-125b down regulates p14ARF, p53 is restrained from its job of killing cancer cells. Treatment of prostate cancer cells with an inhibitor of miR-125 results in increased expression of p14ARF and full functioning of p53, leading to the death of prostate cancer cells, known as apoptosis, and a concomitant slowing tumor growth.

This is known as a p53-dependent pathway; there's also a p53-independent pathway, and miR-125b down regulates that as well. Thus this paper shows that, through its manipulation of p14ARF, miR-125b is a major modulator of cell death, whether p53-dependent or independent. Since all prostate cancer cells are one or the other, this phenomenon impacts all of them, which makes miR-125b an important molecule in the progression of prostate cancer.