The methylation status of the AR and IGF1R genes was evaluated in a series of prostate cancer cell lines corresponding to early (benign) and advanced (metastatic) stages of the disease.
IGF1R is overexpressed by prostate cancer compared with benign prostatic epithelium and IGF1R expression commonly persists in androgen-independent metastatic disease at levels comparable to those in the primary.
Analysis of information from public gene expression databases confirmed that co-expression of insulin receptor mRNA and IGF-I receptor mRNA is common in prostate cancer specimens.
Our results suggest that prostate cancer progression is associated with a decrease in IGF-IR expression that could be the result of impaired ability of AR to stimulate IGF-IR gene expression.
Increased insulin-like growth factor I receptor expression and signaling are components of androgen-independent progression in a lineage-derived prostate cancer progression model.
In vivo progression of LAPC-9 and LNCaP prostate cancer models to androgen independence is associated with increased expression of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) and IGF-I receptor (IGF-IR).
In this study, we show that androgens up-regulate insulin-like growth factor-I receptor (IGF-IR) expression and sensitize prostate cancer cells to the biological effects of IGF-I.
In addition, an inverse correlation between BRCA1 and IGF-IR levels was observed in the androgen receptor (AR)-negative prostate cancer-derived P69 and M12 cell lines.
In addition, lycopene treatment enhanced the growth-inhibitory effect of docetaxel more effectively on DU145 cells with IGF-IR high expression than on those PCa cell lines with IGF-IR low expression.
The insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF1R) plays a key role in cell growth and tumorigenesis, and is overexpressed in most malignancies, including prostate cancer.
Taken together, these results suggest that EGR-1 may stimulate prostate cancer cell growth through up-regulation of IGF-1R and indicate that down-regulation of EGR-1 could be an effective therapeutic approach against prostate cancer.