Background and objective: Prostate leucine zipper (PrLZ), a novel gene, is highly associated with the malignant progression of prostate cancer. We previously found that PrLZ overexpression can enhance the survival of prostate cancer LNCaP cells in vitro. This study was to investigate the impact of PrLZ on the invasion of LNCaP cells and its possible mechanism.
Methods: PrLZ was transfected into LNCaP cells. LNCaP/PrLZ cells with high expression of PrLZ were screened with G418. The migration and invasion of LNCaP and LNCaP/PrLZ cells were detected by Transwell assay. The level and activity of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) was determined by Western blot and Zymography, respectively.
Results: Migration cell count of LNCaP and LNCaP/PrLZ cells were 64.8+/-8.7 and 69.3+/-7.6, respectively (P>0.05), whereas invasive cell count of LNCaP and LNCaP/PrLZ cells were 70.7+/-2.8 and 190.5+/-9.3, respectively (P<0.001). Both the expression and activity of MMP-2 in LNCaP/PrLZ cells were enhanced.
Conclusion: PrLZ may be involved in the invasion of prostate cancer.