Prostate cancer is a significant health concern.
In the early stages, prostate cancer cells depend on androgens for growth and survival, hence androgen-ablation therapy at this time may be effective in causing tumor regression. However, treatment options for advanced hormone-refractory prostate cancers are still relatively inefficient. This study aimed to investigate the possible effects of TRPM8 on the proliferation and angiogenesis of androgen-independent cancer PC-3 cells in vivo. Thirty male nude mice were divided into three groups: the PC-3, PC-3-vector and PC-3-TRPM8 groups. PC-3, PC-3-vector and PC-3-TRPM8 cells were respectively inoculated in the right flank to establish a transplanted tumor model. The mice were treated daily for four weeks and each group was examined by histology and immunohistochemical staining for CD34, FAK and PCNA. A CD34 marked microvascular density (MVD) test was performed. Western blot analysis was used to detect the VEGF protein expression level. Compared to the PC-3 and PC-3-vector groups, the PC-3-TRPM8 group revealed a decrease in tumor volume (P=0.000 and P=0.000, respectively), MVD (P=0.045 and P=0.041, respectively), VEGF (P=0.000 and P=0.000, respectively), FAK and PCNA. The correlation between MVD and VEGF was positive (r=0.419; P=0.021). These data show that the overexpression of TRPM8 had a negative effect on the proliferation and angiogenesis progression of PC-3 cells in vivo.
Written by:
Zhu G, Wang X, Yang Z, Cao H, Meng Z, Wang Y, Chen D. Are you the author?
Department of Urology, Zhongnan Hospital, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei 430071, P.R. China.
Reference: Oncol Lett. 2011 Nov;2(6):1213-1217.
doi: 10.3892/ol.2011.410
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 22848290
UroToday.com Investigative Urology Section