Based on gene-expression profiles, prostate tumors can be subdivided into subtypes with different aggressiveness and response to treatment. We investigated if similar clinically relevant subgroups ...can be identified simply by the combination of two immunohistochemistry markers: one for tumor cell differentiation (prostate specific antigen, PSA) and one for proliferation (Ki67). This was analyzed in men with prostate cancer diagnosed at transurethral resection of the prostate 1975-1991 (n = 331) where the majority was managed by watchful waiting. Ki67 and PSA immunoreactivity was related to outcome and to tumor characteristics previously associated with prognosis. Increased Ki67 and decreased PSA were associated with poor outcome, and they provided independent prognostic information from Gleason score. A combinatory score for PSA and Ki67 immunoreactivity was produced using the median PSA and Ki67 levels as cut-off (for Ki67 the upper quartile was also evaluated) for differentiation into subgroups. Patients with PSA low/Ki67 high tumors showed higher Gleason score, more advanced tumor stage, and higher risk of prostate cancer death compared to other patients. Their tumor epithelial cells were often ERG positive and expressed higher levels of ErbB2, phosphorylated epidermal growth factor receptor (pEGF-R) and protein kinase B (pAkt), and their tumor stroma showed a reactive response with type 2 macrophage infiltration, high density of blood vessels and hyaluronic acid, and with reduced levels of caveolin-1, androgen receptors, and mast cells. In contrast, men with PSA high/Ki67 low tumors were characterized by low Gleason score, and the most favorable outcome amongst PSA/Ki67-defined subgroups. Men with PSA low/Ki67 low tumors showed clinical and tumor characteristics intermediate of the two groups above. A combinatory PSA/Ki67 immunoreactivity score identifies subgroups of prostate cancers with different epithelial and stroma phenotypes and highly different outcome but the clinical usefulness of this approach needs to be validated in other cohorts.
Prostate cancer (PC) can display very heterogeneous phenotypes ranging from indolent asymptomatic to aggressive lethal forms. Understanding how these PC subtypes vary in their striving for energy and ...anabolic molecules is of fundamental importance for developing more effective therapies and diagnostics. Here, we carried out an extensive analysis of prostate tissue samples to reveal metabolic alterations during PC development and disease progression and furthermore between TMPRSS2-ERG rearrangement-positive and -negative PC subclasses.
Comprehensive metabolomics analysis of prostate tissue samples was performed by non-destructive high-resolution magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (
H HR MAS NMR). Subsequently, samples underwent moderate extraction, leaving tissue morphology intact for histopathological characterization. Metabolites in tissue extracts were identified by
H/
P NMR and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). These metabolomics profiles were analyzed by chemometric tools and the outcome was further validated using proteomic data from a separate sample cohort.
The obtained metabolite patterns significantly differed between PC and benign tissue and between samples with high and low Gleason score (GS). Five key metabolites (phosphocholine, glutamate, hypoxanthine, arginine and α-glucose) were identified, who were sufficient to differentiate between cancer and benign tissue and between high to low GS. In ERG-positive PC, the analysis revealed several acylcarnitines among the increased metabolites together with decreased levels of proteins involved in β-oxidation; indicating decreased acyl-CoAs oxidation in ERG-positive tumors. The ERG-positive group also showed increased levels of metabolites and proteins involved in purine catabolism; a potential sign of increased DNA damage and oxidative stress.
Our comprehensive metabolomic analysis strongly indicates that ERG-positive PC and ERG-negative PC should be considered as different subtypes of PC; a fact requiring different, sub-type specific treatment strategies for affected patients.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Intra-tumoral steroidogenesis and constitutive androgen receptor (AR) activity have been associated with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). This study aimed to examine if CRPC bone ...metastases expressed higher levels of steroid-converting enzymes than untreated bone metastases. Steroidogenic enzyme levels were also analyzed in relation to expression of constitutively active AR variants (AR-Vs) and to clinical and pathological variables.
Untreated, hormone-naïve (HN, n = 9) and CRPC bone metastases samples (n = 45) were obtained from 54 patients at metastasis surgery. Non-malignant and malignant prostate samples were acquired from 13 prostatectomy specimens. Transcript and protein levels were analyzed by real-time RT-PCR, immunohistochemistry and immunoblotting. No differences in steroidogenic enzyme levels were detected between CRPC and HN bone metastases. Significantly higher levels of SRD5A1, AKR1C2, AKR1C3, and HSD17B10 mRNA were however found in bone metastases than in non-malignant and/or malignant prostate tissue, while the CYP11A1, CYP17A1, HSD3B2, SRD5A2, and HSD17B6 mRNA levels in metastases were significantly lower. A sub-group of metastases expressed very high levels of AKR1C3, which was not due to gene amplification as examined by copy number variation assay. No association was found between AKR1C3 expression and nuclear AR staining, tumor cell proliferation or patient outcome after metastases surgery. With only one exception, high AR-V protein levels were found in bone metastases with low AKR1C3 levels, while metastases with high AKR1C3 levels primarily contained low AR-V levels, indicating distinct mechanisms behind castration-resistance in individual bone metastases.
Induced capacity of converting adrenal-gland derived steroids into more potent androgens was indicated in a sub-group of PC bone metastases. This was not associated with CRPC but merely with the advanced stage of metastasis. Sub-groups of bone metastases could be identified according to their expression levels of AKR1C3 and AR-Vs, which might be of relevance for patient response to 2(nd) line androgen-deprivation therapy.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Analytical drift is a major source of bias in mass spectrometry based metabolomics confounding interpretation and biomarker detection. So far, standard protocols for sample and data analysis have not ...been able to fully resolve this. We present a combined approach for minimizing the influence of analytical drift on multivariate comparisons of matched or dependent samples in mass spectrometry based metabolomics studies. The approach is building on a randomization procedure for sample run order, constrained to independent randomizations between and within dependent sample pairs (e.g. pre/post intervention). This is followed by a novel multivariate statistical analysis strategy allowing paired or dependent analyses of individual effects named OPLS-effect projections (OPLS-EP). We show, using simulated data that OPLS-EP gives improved interpretation over existing methods and that constrained randomization of sample run order in combination with an appropriate dependent statistical test increase the accuracy and sensitivity and decrease the false omission rate in biomarker detection. We verify these findings and prove the strength of the suggested approach in a clinical data set consisting of LC/MS data of blood plasma samples from patients before and after radical prostatectomy. Here OPLS-EP compared to traditional (independent) OPLS-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) on constrained randomized data gives a less complex model (3 versus 5 components) as well a higher predictive ability (Q2 = 0.80 versus Q2 = 0.55). We explain this by showing that paired statistical analysis detects 37 unique significant metabolites that were masked for the independent test due to bias, including analytical drift and inter-individual variation.
Prostate cancer is the second most frequently diagnosed cancer in men. Metabolomics can potentially provide new insights into the aetiology of prostate cancer by identifying new metabolic risk ...factors. This study investigated the prospective association between plasma metabolite concentrations and prostate cancer risk, both overall and by stratifying for disease aggressiveness and baseline age.
In a case-control study nested in the Northern Sweden Health and Disease Study, pre-diagnostic concentrations of 148 plasma metabolites were determined using targeted mass spectrometry- and nuclear magnetic resonance-based metabolomics in 777 prostate cancer cases (follow-up ≥ 5 years) and 777 matched controls. Associations between prostate cancer risk and metabolite concentrations were investigated using conditional logistic regression conditioned on matching factors (body mass index, age and sample storage time). Corrections for multiple testing were performed using false discovery rate (20%) and Bonferroni. Metabolomics analyses generated new hypotheses, which were investigated by leveraging food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) and oral glucose tolerance tests performed at baseline.
After correcting for multiple testing, two lysophosphatidylcholines (LPCs) were positively associated with risk of overall prostate cancer (all ages and in older subjects). The strongest association was for LPC C17:0 in older subjects (OR = 2.08; 95% CI 1.45-2.98; p < 0.0001, significant also after the Bonferroni correction). Observed associations with risk of overall prostate cancer in younger subjects were positive for glycine and inverse for pyruvate. For aggressive prostate cancer, there were positive associations with six glycerophospholipids (LPC C17:0, LPC C20:3, LPC C20:4, PC ae C38:3, PC ae C38:4 and PC ae C40:2), while there was an inverse association with acylcarnitine C18:2. Moreover, plasma LPC C17:0 concentrations positively correlated with estimated dietary intake of fatty acid C17:0 from the FFQs. The associations between glycerophospholipids and prostate cancer were stronger in case-controls with normal glucose tolerance.
Several glycerophospholipids were positively associated with risk of overall and aggressive prostate cancer. The strongest association was observed for LPC C17:0. The associations between glycerophospholipids and prostate cancer risk were stronger in case-controls with normal glucose tolerance, suggesting a link between the glucose metabolism status and risk of prostate cancer.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
In order to grow and spread tumors need to interact with adjacent tissues. We therefore hypothesized that small but aggressive prostate cancers influence the rest of the prostate and regional lymph ...nodes differently than tumors that are more indolent. Poorly metastatic (Dunning AT1) or highly metastatic (Dunning MLL) rat prostate tumor cells were injected into the ventral prostate lobe of immunocompetent rats. After 10 days-when the tumors occupied about 30% of the prostate lobe and lymph node metastases were undetectable-the global gene expression in tumors, benign parts of the prostate, and regional iliac lymph nodes were examined to define tumor-induced changes related to preparation for future metastasis. The tumors induced profound effects on the gene expression profiles in the benign parts of the prostate and these were strikingly different in the two tumor models. Gene ontology enrichment analysis suggested that tumors with high metastatic capacity were more successful than less metastatic tumors in inducing tumor-promoting changes and suppressing anti-tumor immune responses in the entire prostate. Some of these differences such as altered angiogenesis, nerve density, accumulation of T-cells and macrophages were verified by immunohistochemistry. Gene expression alterations in the regional lymph nodes suggested decreased quantity and activation of immune cells in MLL-lymph nodes that were also verified by immunostaining. In summary, even when small highly metastatic prostate tumors can affect the entire tumor-bearing organ and pre-metastatic lymph nodes differently than less metastatic tumors. When the kinetics of these extratumoral influences (by us named TINT = tumor instructed normal tissue) are more precisely defined they could potentially be used as markers of disease aggressiveness and become therapeutic targets.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Metastasis to the bone is one clinically important features of prostate cancer (PCa). Current diagnostic methods cannot predict metastatic PCa at a curable stage of the disease. Identification of ...metabolic pathways involved in the growth of bone metastases therefore has the potential to improve PCa prognostication as well as therapy.
Metabolomics was applied for the study of PCa bone metastases (n = 20) in comparison with corresponding normal bone (n = 14), and furthermore of malignant (n = 13) and benign (n = 17) prostate tissue and corresponding plasma samples obtained from patients with (n = 15) and without (n = 13) diagnosed metastases and from men with benign prostate disease (n = 30). This was done using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for sample characterization, and chemometric bioinformatics for data analysis. Results were verified in a separate test set including metastatic and normal bone tissue from patients with other cancers (n = 7). Significant differences were found between PCa bone metastases, bone metastases of other cancers, and normal bone. Furthermore, we identified metabolites in primary tumor tissue and in plasma which were significantly associated with metastatic disease. Among the metabolites in PCa bone metastases especially cholesterol was noted. In a test set the mean cholesterol level in PCa bone metastases was 127.30 mg/g as compared to 81.06 and 35.85 mg/g in bone metastases of different origin and normal bone, respectively (P = 0.0002 and 0.001). Immunohistochemical staining of PCa bone metastases showed intense staining of the low density lipoprotein receptor and variable levels of the scavenger receptor class B type 1 and 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme reductase in tumor epithelial cells, indicating possibilities for influx and de novo synthesis of cholesterol.
We have identified metabolites associated with PCa metastasis and specifically identified high levels of cholesterol in PCa bone metastases. Based on our findings and the previous literature, this makes cholesterol a possible therapeutic target for advanced PCa.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Polygenic risk scores (PRS) for prostate cancer incidence have been proposed to optimize prostate cancer screening. Prediction of lethal prostate cancer is key to any stratified screening program to ...avoid excessive overdiagnosis. Herein, PRS for incident prostate cancer was evaluated in two population-based cohorts of unscreened middle-aged men linked to cancer and death registries: the Västerbotten Intervention Project (VIP) and the Malmö Diet and Cancer study (MDC). SNP genotypes were measured by genome-wide SNP genotyping by array followed by imputation or genotyping of selected SNPs using mass spectrometry. The ability of PRS to predict lethal prostate cancer was compared to PSA and a commercialized pre-specified model based on four kallikrein markers. The PRS was associated with incident prostate cancer, replicating previously reported relative risks, and was also associated with prostate cancer death. However, unlike PSA, the PRS did not show stronger association with lethal disease: the hazard ratio for prostate cancer incidence vs. prostate cancer metastasis and death was 1.69 vs. 1.65 in VIP and 1.25 vs. 1.25 in MDC. PSA was a much stronger predictor of prostate cancer metastasis or death with an area-under-the-curve of 0.78 versus 0.63 for the PRS. Importantly, addition of PRS to PSA did not contribute additional risk stratification for lethal prostate cancer. We have shown that a PRS that predicts prostate cancer incidence does not have utility above and beyond that of PSA measured at baseline when applied to the clinically relevant endpoint of prostate cancer death. These findings have implications for public health policies for delivery of prostate cancer screening. Focusing polygenic risk scores on clinically significant endpoints such as prostate cancer metastasis or death would likely improve clinical utility.
Background
Taxane treatment may be a suitable therapeutic option for patients with castration‐resistant prostate cancer and high expression of constitutively active androgen receptor variants ...(AR‐Vs). The aim of the study was to compare the effects of cabazitaxel and androgen deprivation treatments in a prostate tumor xenograft model expressing high levels of constitutively active AR‐V7. Furthermore, mechanisms behind acquired cabazitaxel resistance were explored.
Methods
Mice were subcutaneously inoculated with 22Rv1 cells and treated with surgical castration (n = 7), abiraterone (n = 9), cabazitaxel (n = 6), castration plus abiraterone (n = 8), castration plus cabazitaxel (n = 11), or vehicle and/or sham operation (n = 23). Tumor growth was followed for about 2 months or to a volume of approximately 1000 mm3. Two cabazitaxel resistant cell lines; 22Rv1‐CabR1 and 22Rv1‐CabR2, were established from xenografts relapsing during cabazitaxel treatment. Differential gene expression between the cabazitaxel resistant and control 22Rv1 cells was examined by whole‐genome expression array analysis followed by immunoblotting, immunohistochemistry, and functional pathway analysis.
Results
Abiraterone treatment alone or in combination with surgical castration had no major effect on 22Rv1 tumor growth, while cabazitaxel significantly delayed and in some cases totally abolished 22Rv1 tumor growth on its own and in combination with surgical castration. The cabazitaxel resistant cell lines; 22Rv1‐CabR1 and 22Rv1‐CabR2, both showed upregulation of the ATP‐binding cassette sub‐family B member 1 (ABCB1) efflux pump. Treatment with ABCB1 inhibitor elacridar completely restored susceptibility to cabazitaxel, while treatment with AR‐antagonists bicalutamide and enzalutamide partly restored susceptibility to cabazitaxel in both cell lines. The cholesterol biosynthesis pathway was induced in the 22Rv1‐CabR2 cell line, which was confirmed by reduced sensitivity to simvastatin treatment.
Conclusions
Cabazitaxel efficiently inhibits prostate cancer growth despite the high expression of constitutively active AR‐V7. Acquired cabazitaxel resistance involving overexpression of efflux transporter ABCB1 can be reverted by bicalutamide or enzalutamide treatment, indicating the great clinical potential for combined treatment with cabazitaxel and anti‐androgens.