Functional Erythropoietin Receptors Expressed by Human Prostate Cancer Cells

摘要

Erythropoietin is effective in correcting the anemia associated with cancer and chemotherapy. However, Epo receptors (EpoR) have been found on tumor cells and Epo may stimulate these cells. We discovered that prostate cancer cell lines and primary prostate tumors express EpoR. In this study, we propose to gain insight into a pattern of EpoR expression in primary human prostate tumors and adjacent normal tissue and to study the role of the EpoR and the effect of Epo administration on growth of prostate cancer cells transplanted into SCID mice. We have prepared prostate cancer cell lines containing antisense EpoR constructs to be used in loss-of-function studies in vivo. Because we had found that the tetracycline inducible vector system was very 'leaky', we transfected LNCaP and PC-3 cells with stable antisense constructs. We found that the single stranded cDNA probe was not sensitive enough and, therefore, tested an S1 nuclease protection technique. We completed our immunohistochemistry pilot study showing EpoR in primary human prostate tumors. We also determined of baseline growth kinetics for prostate cancer cells transplanted into SCID mice.