Cytochrome P450 17A1 inhibitor abiraterone attenuates cellular growth of prostate cancer cells independently from androgen receptor signaling by modulation of oncogenic and apoptotic pathways

Int J Oncol. 2016 Feb;48(2):793-800. doi: 10.3892/ijo.2015.3274. Epub 2015 Nov 27.

Abstract

Abiraterone provides significant survival advantages in prostate cancer (PC), however, the current understanding of the molecular mechanisms of abiraterone is still limited. Therefore, the abiraterone impact on androgen receptor (AR)-positive LNCaP and AR-negative PC-3 cells was assessed by cellular and molecular analyses. The present study demonstrated, that abiraterone treatment significantly decreased cell growth, AR expression, and AR activity of AR-positive LNCaP cells. Notably, AR-negative PC-3 cells exhibited comparable reductions in cellular proliferation, associated with DNA fragmentation and pro-apoptotic modulation of p21, caspase-3, survivin, and transforming growth factor β (TGFβ). Our observations suggest that the attenuation of AR signaling is not the only rationale to explain the abiraterone anticancer activity. Abiraterone efficacy may play a more global role in PC progression control than originally hypothesized. In this regard, abiraterone is not only a promising drug for treatment of AR-negative PC stages, even more, abiraterone may represent an alternative for treatment of other malignancies besides prostate cancer.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Androstenes / pharmacology*
  • Apoptosis / drug effects*
  • Caspase 3 / metabolism
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cell Proliferation / drug effects*
  • Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p21 / metabolism
  • Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System / drug effects*
  • Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins / metabolism
  • Male
  • Prostate / drug effects
  • Prostate / metabolism
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / drug therapy*
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / metabolism
  • Receptors, Androgen / metabolism*
  • Signal Transduction / drug effects*
  • Survivin
  • Transforming Growth Factor beta / metabolism

Substances

  • AR protein, human
  • Androstenes
  • BIRC5 protein, human
  • CDKN1A protein, human
  • Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p21
  • Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins
  • Receptors, Androgen
  • Survivin
  • Transforming Growth Factor beta
  • Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System
  • Caspase 3
  • abiraterone