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Divergent Effects of Castration on Prostate Cancer in TRAMP Mice: Possible Implications for Therapy

Authors' Affiliations: ¹ Department of Medicine, Greenebaum Cancer Center, ² Greenebaum Cancer Center, and ³ Division of Biostatistics, Greenebaum Cancer Center, University of Maryland School of Medicine, and ⁴ Baltimore VA Medical Center, Baltimore, Maryland

Requests for reprints: Arif Hussain, Department of Medicine, Greenebaum Cancer Center, University of Maryland School of Medicine, BRB9040, 655 West Baltimore Street, Baltimore, MD 21201. Phone: 410-328-3911; Fax: 410-328-5669; E-mail: ahussain{at}som.umaryland.edu.

Purpose: Divergent responses to androgen deprivation have been found in patients and in animal models of prostate cancer. The molecular basis for these different outcomes is unknown. Our aim was to identify the molecular responses of prostate cancer with divergent outcomes to androgen deprivation in TRAMP mice.

Experimental Design: Castrated and noncastrated B6xFVB TRAMP mice were evaluated for survival, tumor development, pathology, and expressions of specific proteins at different time points.

Results: TRAMP mice responded differentially to androgen deprivation. In the majority, primary tumors regressed after castration (positive response), whereas in others the tumors grew even more aggressively than in the noncastrated mice (negative response). Mice with regressed tumors had the highest survival rates. Androgen receptor was elevated in all tumors from castrated mice despite significant differences in tumor sizes. In positively responding tumors, expressions of Bcl-2 and Grp78 were greatly increased by 10 weeks after castration, whereas expressions of Bax, Bcl-xl, SV40 T antigen, and c-myc were lower. These tumors also showed a reduction in proliferating cells compared with noncastrates and negatively responding tumors. Most of these changes disappeared 20 weeks after castration, by which time there was an increase in the size of primary tumors as well as in distant metastasis.

Conclusions: In TRAMP prostate cancer that responded positively to castration, different expression patterns of proteins involved in cellular apoptosis, stress, and proliferation occur 10 weeks after castration. This may be an optimal time for targeting Bcl-2, and perhaps Grp78, to enhance the antitumor effects of androgen deprivation.