Steroidogenic enzymes and stem cell markers are upregulated during androgen deprivation in prostate cancer.

ABSTRACT: Considerable levels of testosterone and dihydrotestosterone (DHT) are found in prostate cancer (PCa) tissue after androgen deprivation therapy. Treatment of surviving cancer-initiating cells and the ability to metabolize steroids from precursors may be the keystones for the appearance of recurrent tumors. To study this hypothesis, we assessed the expression of several steroidogenic enzymes and stem cell markers in clinical PCa samples and cell cultures during androgen depletion. Gene expression profiles were determined by microarray or qRT-PCR. In addition, we measured cell viability and analyzed stem cell marker expression in DuCaP cells by immunocytochemistry. Seventy patient samples from different stages of PCa, and the PCa cell line DuCaP were included in this study. The androgen recep

SUBMITTER: Pfeiffer MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3146625 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature