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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 278, Issue 51, 50902-50907, December 19, 2003
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¶
From the
George Whipple Laboratory for Cancer Research, Departments of Pathology, Urology, and Radiation Oncology and The Cancer Center, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York 14642 and
Center for Menopause and Reproductive Medicine Research, Chang Gung University, Kaohsiung 833, Taiwan
Received for publication, January 21, 2003 , and in revised form, September 12, 2003.
| ABSTRACT |
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| INTRODUCTION |
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Recent rapid progress of the PI3K/Akt signal pathway studies, as well as its influence on the androgen receptor (AR)-mediated prostate cancer growth, has resulted in many exciting yet controversial results. Here we address these controversial results by summarizing Akt-AR-related results and provide new data, as well as possible explanations for the distinct roles of the PI3K/Akt pathway in AR-mediated prostate cancer growth. Particular emphases will be: 1) Akt suppresses versus induces AR activity, 2) Akt phosphorylation sites on AR protein, and 3) promotion of AR degradation by the PI3K/Akt pathway.
| EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES |
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-Dihydrotestosterone (DHT), doxycycline (Dox), and cycloheximide were from Sigma. The anti-AR polyclonal antibody, NH27, was produced as described previously (3). The mouse monoclonal PTEN and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) antibodies and the goat polyclonal
-actin antibody were from Santa Cruz Biotechnology. The mouse monoclonal Akt and phospho-Akt (Ser473) antibodies were purchased from Cell Signaling. Cell Culture and TransfectionsDU145, PC-3, and COS-1 cell lines were maintained in Dulbecco's minimum essential medium containing penicillin (25 units/ml), streptomycin (25 µg/ml), and 10% fetal calf serum (FCS). LNCaP cells were maintained in RPMI 1640 with 10% FCS. Transfections were performed using SuperFectTM according to standard procedures (Qiagen).
Luciferase Reporter AssaysLuciferase reporter assay was as described previously with some modifications (5). The cells were transfected with plasmids in 10% charcoal-stripped serum (CSS) medium for 16 h and then treated with ethanol or 10 nM DHT for 16 h. The cells were lysed, and luciferase activity was detected by the dual luciferase assay according to standard procedures (Promega). Mouse mammary tumor virus-luciferase (MMTV-luc), which contains the AR response elements, was used as an AR transactivation reporter. The results were normalized by Renilla luciferase activity (pRL-SV40-luc), and the data represent means ± S.D. from triplicate sets of three independent experiments.
LNCaP Stable TransfectantsFor the Dox-inducible system, PTEN was released from pGEX-KG-PTEN using EcoRI digestion and inserted into pBIG2i vector. The LNCaP cells were transfected with pPIB2i PTEN for 24 h. The cells were selected using 100 µg/ml hygromycin. Individual colonies were picked and grown until 70% confluent followed by 4 µg/ml Dox treatment. The positive clones were confirmed by Western blot analysis.
Generation of an Anti-phospho-AR Antibody (Ser210)The phospho-AR peptide (SGRAREADGAPTSSKD) was generated and used for generation of anti-phospho-AR (Ser210) antibody (clone 156C135.2) according to the manufacture's procedures (AndroScience, San Diego, CA).
Immunoprecipitation and Western Blot AnalysisImmunoprecipitation and Western blotting were performed as previously described (3). Cell extracts (1 mg) were immunoprecipitated with the indicated antibody. The immunocomplexes were subjected to 8% SDS-PAGE and immunoblotted with the indicated antibody.
Cell Growth AssayLNCaP cells (2 x 104) with different passage numbers were grown in 12-well plates, transfected with parent vector or the constitutively active form of Akt (cAkt), and cultured in 10% CSS medium after 3 h of transfection. Cells were stained by trypan blue on different days, as indicated, and cell numbers were determined by direct counting on hemacytometers. The data represent means ± S.D. from triplicate sets of three independent experiments.
| RESULTS AND DISCUSSION |
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Interestingly, we found that the PI3K/Akt pathway could regulate AR activity in a passage-dependent manner in LNCaP cells. cAkt suppressed AR activity in low passage number LNCaP cells (passage number 25) (Fig. 1A, P25) but enhanced AR activity in high passage number LNCaP cells (Fig. 1B, P60), in reporter gene assays. It should be noted that the reporter gene activation by androgen was much higher in higher passage LNCaP cells (Fig. 1, compare panel B with A). The reason for this phenomenon is currently unknown. This may suggest that some factors that preferentially exist or are over-expressed in higher passage LNCaP cells may contribute to the enhancement of this androgen response. Blockage of the PI3K/Akt pathway by LY294002 slightly enhanced AR activity in low passage number LNCaP cells but suppressed AR activity in high passage number LNCaP cells (Fig. 1, A and B, 4th lanes on right). Although LY294002 has been widely used as a PI3K inhibitor, we cannot rule out the possibility that at 20 µM this reagent may affect other kinases that influence AR activity. We performed a Western blot assay to examine the role of the PI3K/Akt pathway in regulating AR target gene expression. Even though LY294002 only marginally enhanced AR activity in low passage LNCaP cells in the reporter gene assays (Fig. 1A), it apparently increased androgen-induced PSA expression, an AR target gene, in low passage number LNCaP cells (Fig. 1C). Similar to the reporter gene assay, LY294002 suppressed PSA expression in high passage number LNCaP cells (Fig. 1C). Moreover, cAkt reduced androgen-induced PSA expression in low passage number LNCaP cells but slightly enhanced PSA expression in high passage number LNCaP cells (Fig. 1D). These results suggest that distinct passage numbers of LNCaP cells might influence the effects of the PI3K/Akt effect on AR activity. Using PC-3 cells, Thompson et al. (9) also demonstrated that the PI3K/Akt pathway could suppress AR activity, which is consistent with our data (Fig. 1A) and with early reports using DU145 cells as the cell model (3). Together, these results demonstrate that the effects of the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway on AR activity may change with different prostate cancer cell lines and within the same cell line at different passage numbers.
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To support the above hypothesis, we found that the low passage LNCaP cells possess a low basal level of Akt activity (Fig. 1E). In contrast, high passage LNCaP cells show a strong basal Akt activity (Fig. 1E). Our data show that Akt negatively modulates AR activity in low passage LNCaP cells (Fig. 1A), suggesting that LNCaP cells at this early stage require more androgen to compensate for the suppressive effect of the low basal Akt activity and that the low basal Akt activity may not be sufficient to provide the survival signal necessary for maintenance of cell growth and survival.
To determine whether Akt is a determining factor for the androgen reliance of LNCaP cell growth, we cultured LNCaP cells in CSS medium lacking androgen to compare the growth pattern of LNCaP cells at different passage numbers in the presence or absence of cAkt. As expected, early passage LNCaP cells, with low basal activity of Akt, showed little cell growth in the CSS medium (Fig. 1F), suggesting that the androgens are important for cell growth. In contrast, high passage LNCaP cells, with higher basal Akt activity, grew much faster than early passage LNCaP cells (Fig. 1F), suggesting less dependence on the androgens. Elevation of the basal Akt activity by transfection of cAkt significantly increased the LNCaP cell growth at both cell passages, although the effect of cAkt was more profound in the early passage LNCaP cells (Fig. 1F). Thus, the Akt signal may be a key factor in driving LNCaP cell growth and survival at this late stage with weaker androgen reliance.
Considering the biphasic effect of PI3K/Akt and androgen signaling on the progression of prostate cancer, we found that androgen ablation therapy, which removes most of the androgens available for prostate tumors, may result in increased activation of the PI3K/Akt pathway, promoting tumor cell growth and survival. This hypothesis is further supported by a recent report (11) showing that the PI3K/Akt pathway is elevated in LNCaP cells cultured in androgen-depleted medium. It is possible that increased PI3K/Akt signaling upon loss of androgen signaling may contribute to the failure of androgen ablation therapy at later stages of prostate cancer. For this reason, using a combination therapy that includes androgen ablation at early stages and suppression of the PI3K/Akt pathway at later stages may provide a better strategy for battling prostate cancer.
The Effect of PI3K/Akt Signaling on AR PhosphorylationAR is a phosphoprotein, and its activity can be modulated by phosphorylation (12). We demonstrated that activation of PI3K/Akt pathways by IGF-1 in COS-1 cells induces AR phosphorylation in vivo (3). The in vitro kinase assay further revealed that Akt, but not PI3K, phosphorylates AR at Ser210 and Ser790 residues, which are the Akt consensus phosphorylation sites (3). Overexpression of cAkt, but not the kinase-dead Akt mutant (dAkt), induced AR phosphorylation in vivo, and mutations at the consensus serine residues reduced Akt-mediated AR phosphorylation (3). Consistent with our results, Wen et al. (7) also found that Akt associated with AR and phosphorylated AR at Ser210 and Ser790 in vitro.
We and others (3, 7) and have found that Akt can phosphorylate AR at Ser210 and Ser790. However, Gioeli et al. (13) found that Akt fails to phosphorylate AR at Ser210 and Ser790 in LNCaP cells. They also found that PI3K inhibitor LY294002 did not change the levels of AR phosphorylation in a two-dimensional gel electrophoresis assay (13). These contrasting results may be because of the use of different cell lines (COS-1 versus LNCaP cells) to test AR phosphorylation under various transfection and treatment conditions. Alternatively, another explanation for the discrepancy may be that the overexpression of Akt via transient transfection may produce protein levels that are far higher than that seen under physiological conditions.
To determine whether gene overexpression was a confounding factor in the interpretation of our AR phosphorylation assays, we used IGF-1 to activate endogenous PI3K/Akt and therefore mimic physiological conditions. As shown in Fig. 2A, we demonstrated that IGF-1 treatment induced AR phosphorylation in LNCaP cells (passage number 38), and adding the PI3K inhibitor LY294002 blocked IGF-1-mediated AR phosphorylation, suggesting that the PI3K/Akt pathway is involved in the phosphorylation of AR. Using a site-specific anti-phosphoserine AR antibody, AR phosphorylation at Ser210 was detected when LNCaP cells were treated with IGF-1 (Fig. 2B). Moreover, using the Dox-inducible system we generated the inducible PTEN clone, a tumor suppressor that antagonizes the PI3K/Akt pathway (14), in LNCaP cells at passage number 40. PTEN expression induced by Dox treatment inhibited Akt activation and AR phosphorylation at Ser210 (Fig. 2C). IGF-1 also induced wild-type AR phosphorylation in COS-1 cells (Fig. 2D, wtAR), and LY294002 blocked the IGF-1-mediated phosphorylation. In contrast, IGF-1 did not induce phosphorylation of the mutant AR (S210A/S790A), in which two Akt consensus sites were mutated from Ser to Ala (Fig. 2D, mtAR). These data therefore strongly support our early findings that the PI3K/Akt pathway activated by IGF-1 mediates AR phosphorylation at Ser210 and Ser790 (3). In contrast, Gioeli et al. (13) did not add growth factors such as IGF-1 to activate the PI3K/Akt pathway. It is therefore possible that the level of the Akt activity in LNCaP cells may not be sufficient to induce AR activity, given that the basal level of Akt activity is low in early passage LNCaP cells (Fig. 1E) in which AR phosphorylation by Akt may not occur and may require the addition of growth factors to amplify the PI3K/Akt signal.
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Mdm2, a Ring Finger protein, consists of an E3 ligase and suppresses p53 activity by regulation of ubiquitylation and degradation of p53 (18, 19). In addition to regulation of p53 function, Mdm2 can also regulate AR activity via regulation of ubiquitylation and degradation of the AR (4). We further identified Mdm2 as an E3 ligase for AR and a mediator for Akt-induced AR ubiquitylation and degradation (4). AR protein normally undergoes degradation several hours after its synthesis in cells. However, the signals responsible for AR turnover remain unclear. Based on our data, we propose that the PI3K/Akt/Mdm2 pathway represents an important mechanism to control AR turnover rate. When LNCaP cells are cultured in normal medium, growth factors such as IGF-1 can activate the PI3K/Akt pathway, which may then be responsible for the turnover of AR protein. In support of this hypothesis, blockage of the PI3K/Akt pathway by LY294002 in LNCaP cells leads to increased AR protein levels (4).
Because the PI3K/Akt pathway differentially regulates AR activity in different passage numbers of LNCaP cells (Fig. 1, A-D), we next determined whether the PI3K/Akt pathway has a distinct effect on AR degradation in these cells. cAkt down-regulated AR protein levels in low passage LNCaP but slightly enhanced AR protein levels in high passage LNCaP cells (Fig. 3A). In contrast, LY294002 enhanced AR protein levels in low passage LNCaP cells but slightly reduced AR protein levels in high passage LNCaP cells (Fig. 3B). To prove the role of Akt in regulation of AR degradation directly, we examined the effect of Akt on AR protein stability. Overexpression of cAkt in low passage LNCaP cells led to accelerated AR degradation (Fig. 3C, left panel). cAkt did not promote AR degradation in high passage LNCaP cells but slightly enhanced AR stability (Fig. 3C, right panel), which indeed correlated with the effect of PI3K/Akt on AR transcriptional activity in Fig. 1, A-D, and AR protein levels in Fig. 3, A and B. These results suggest that the PI3K/Akt pathway induces AR degradation in low passage LNCaP cells but not in high passage LNCaP cells.
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SummaryOn the basis of this study and our previous reports (3, 4) we propose a model for the PI3K/Akt pathway action on the regulation of AR activity in prostate cancer LNCaP cells (Fig. 4). The PI3K/Akt pathway exhibits a cell passage-dependent regulation of AR activity. In low passage LNCaP cells, the basal activity of PI3K/Akt signaling is low and cells are strongly dependent on androgen signaling for growth and survival. However, in high passage LNCaP cells, the basal activity of the PI3K/Akt pathway is high and cells are less dependent on androgen signaling. The PI3K/Akt pathway not only provides the growth and survival signals for prostate cancer cells, but it also enhances AR activity in high passage LNCaP cells via an unknown mechanism.
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| FOOTNOTES |
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¶ To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: chang{at}urmc.rochester.edu; Website: www.urmc.rochester.edu/ChangARlab.
1 The abbreviations used are: PI3K, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase; AR, androgen receptor; cAkt, constitutively active form of Akt; CSS, charcoal-stripped serum; DHT, 5
-dihydrotestosterone; Dox, doxycycline; E3 ligase, ubiquitin-protein isopeptide ligase; FCS, fetal calf serum; IGF, insulin-like growth factor; MMTV-luc, mouse mammary tumor virus-luciferase; PSA, prostate-specific antigen; PTEN, phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome ten. ![]()
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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| REFERENCES |
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