Neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC) is an aggressive subtype of prostate cancer that commonly arises through neuroendocrine differentiation (NED) of prostate adenocarcinoma (PAC) after therapy, such as radiation therapy and androgen deprivation treatment (ADT). No effective therapeutic is available for NEPC and its molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood. We have reported that G protein-coupled receptor kinase 3 (GRK3, also called ADRBK2) promotes prostate cancer progression. In this study, we demonstrate that the ADT-activated cAMP response element binding protein (CREB) directly targets and induces GRK3. We show GRK3 expression is higher in NEPC than in PAC cells and mouse models, and it positively correlates with the expression and activity of CREB in human prostate cancers. Notably, overexpression of GRK3 in PAC cells increased the expression of NE markers in a kinase activity dependent manner. Conversely, silencing GRK3 blocked CREB-induced NED in PAC cells, reversed NE phenotypes and inhibited proliferation of NEPC cells. Taken together, these results indicate that GRK3 is a new critical activator of NE phenotypes and mediator of CREB activation in promoting NED of prostate cancer cells.
Oncotarget. 2016 May 14 [Epub ahead of print]
Meixiang Sang, Mohit Hulsurkar, Xiaochong Zhang, Haiping Song, Dayong Zheng, Yan Zhang, Min Li, Jianming Xu, Songlin Zhang, Michael Ittmann, Wenliang Li
Texas Therapeutics Institute, Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA., Texas Therapeutics Institute, Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA., Texas Therapeutics Institute, Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA., Texas Therapeutics Institute, Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA., Texas Therapeutics Institute, Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA., Texas Therapeutics Institute, Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA., Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA., Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA., Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA., Department of Pathology and Immunology, Baylor College of Medicine, and Michael E. DeBakey VAMC, Houston, TX, USA., Texas Therapeutics Institute, Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA.