1
|
Wen RM, Qiu Z, Marti GEW, Peterson EE, Marques FJG, Bermudez A, Wei Y, Nolley R, Lam N, Polasko AL, Chiu CL, Zhang D, Cho S, Karageorgos GM, McDonough E, Chadwick C, Ginty F, Jung KJ, Machiraju R, Mallick P, Crowley L, Pollack JR, Zhao H, Pitteri SJ, Brooks JD. AZGP1 deficiency promotes angiogenesis in prostate cancer. J Transl Med 2024; 22:383. [PMID: 38659028 PMCID: PMC11044612 DOI: 10.1186/s12967-024-05183-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2023] [Accepted: 04/08/2024] [Indexed: 04/26/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Loss of AZGP1 expression is a biomarker associated with progression to castration resistance, development of metastasis, and poor disease-specific survival in prostate cancer. However, high expression of AZGP1 cells in prostate cancer has been reported to increase proliferation and invasion. The exact role of AZGP1 in prostate cancer progression remains elusive. METHOD AZGP1 knockout and overexpressing prostate cancer cells were generated using a lentiviral system. The effects of AZGP1 under- or over-expression in prostate cancer cells were evaluated by in vitro cell proliferation, migration, and invasion assays. Heterozygous AZGP1± mice were obtained from European Mouse Mutant Archive (EMMA), and prostate tissues from homozygous knockout male mice were collected at 2, 6 and 10 months for histological analysis. In vivo xenografts generated from AZGP1 under- or over-expressing prostate cancer cells were used to determine the role of AZGP1 in prostate cancer tumor growth, and subsequent proteomics analysis was conducted to elucidate the mechanisms of AZGP1 action in prostate cancer progression. AZGP1 expression and microvessel density were measured in human prostate cancer samples on a tissue microarray of 215 independent patient samples. RESULT Neither the knockout nor overexpression of AZGP1 exhibited significant effects on prostate cancer cell proliferation, clonal growth, migration, or invasion in vitro. The prostates of AZGP1-/- mice initially appeared to have grossly normal morphology; however, we observed fibrosis in the periglandular stroma and higher blood vessel density in the mouse prostate by 6 months. In PC3 and DU145 mouse xenografts, over-expression of AZGP1 did not affect tumor growth. Instead, these tumors displayed decreased microvessel density compared to xenografts derived from PC3 and DU145 control cells, suggesting that AZGP1 functions to inhibit angiogenesis in prostate cancer. Proteomics profiling further indicated that, compared to control xenografts, AZGP1 overexpressing PC3 xenografts are enriched with angiogenesis pathway proteins, including YWHAZ, EPHA2, SERPINE1, and PDCD6, MMP9, GPX1, HSPB1, COL18A1, RNH1, and ANXA1. In vitro functional studies show that AZGP1 inhibits human umbilical vein endothelial cell proliferation, migration, tubular formation and branching. Additionally, tumor microarray analysis shows that AZGP1 expression is negatively correlated with blood vessel density in human prostate cancer tissues. CONCLUSION AZGP1 is a negative regulator of angiogenesis, such that loss of AZGP1 promotes angiogenesis in prostate cancer. AZGP1 likely exerts heterotypical effects on cells in the tumor microenvironment, such as stromal and endothelial cells. This study sheds light on the anti-angiogenic characteristics of AZGP1 in the prostate and provides a rationale to target AZGP1 to inhibit prostate cancer progression.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ru M Wen
- Department of Urology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.
| | - Zhengyuan Qiu
- Department of Urology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
| | - G Edward W Marti
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
| | - Eric E Peterson
- Department of Urology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
| | - Fernando Jose Garcia Marques
- Department of Radiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
- Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
| | - Abel Bermudez
- Department of Radiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
- Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
| | - Yi Wei
- Department of Urology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
| | - Rosalie Nolley
- Department of Urology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
| | - Nathan Lam
- Department of Urology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
| | - Alex LaPat Polasko
- Department of Urology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
| | - Chun-Lung Chiu
- Department of Urology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
| | - Dalin Zhang
- Department of Urology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
| | - Sanghee Cho
- GE HealthCare Technology and Innovation Center, Niskayuna, NY, 12309, USA
| | | | | | - Chrystal Chadwick
- GE HealthCare Technology and Innovation Center, Niskayuna, NY, 12309, USA
| | - Fiona Ginty
- GE HealthCare Technology and Innovation Center, Niskayuna, NY, 12309, USA
| | - Kyeong Joo Jung
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA
| | - Raghu Machiraju
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA
| | - Parag Mallick
- Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
| | - Laura Crowley
- Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Jonathan R Pollack
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Hongjuan Zhao
- Department of Urology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
| | - Sharon J Pitteri
- Department of Radiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
- Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
| | - James D Brooks
- Department of Urology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.
- Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.
| |
Collapse
|