The avb6 integrin regulates androgen receptor activity and prostate cancer progression

International Conference on Prostate Cancer

June 22-24, 2015 Florida, USA

Huimin Lu

ScientificTracks Abstracts-Workshop: J Cancer Sci Ther

Abstract :

The intracellular signals governing prostate cancer (PrCa) progression in humans are not entirely understood. Androgen receptor (AR) signaling fuels PrCa, and is a major therapeutic target in this disease. However, therapeutic androgen ablation in the clinic is often unsuccessful given cancer progression to a castrate-resistant phenotype. Here, we show that the avb6 integrin, a receptor for the extracellular matrix, is significantly increased in preneoplastic lesions and prostatic adenocarcinoma, but not normal prostatic epithelium, and is required for tumor growth in vivo of non-castrated and castrated mice. We uncovered a novel pathway that couples signaling at the cell surface transduced by the avb6 integrin to activation of JNK1, AR-dependent gene expression and upregulation of survivin which, in turn, promotes anchorage-independent growth. This signaling network occurs preferentially in the transformed prostatic epithelium of non-castrated as well as castrated mice, triggers accelerated cell proliferation and is required for PrCa growth in vivo. Overall our data show that avb6 integrin pathway cross-talks with AR signaling and contributes to a castrate-resistant and aggressive PrCa phenotype.

Biography :

Huimin Lu has obtained his Ph.D degree in pharmacology at Sun Yat-sen University, Guangdong, China. He is now a senior postdoctoral research fellow in Dr. Languinoâ??s laboratory at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.