Extracellular ATP enhances in vitro invasion of prostate cancer cells by activating Rho GTPase and upregulating MMPs expression.

We previously found that in addition to anti-proliferation function, extracellular ATP had a pro-invasion effect on prostate cancer cells, and probably serves as an important regulator of invasion in local microenvironment. However, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. In this study, we demonstrated that ATP increased the motility of prostate cancer cells, and promoted formation of lamellipodia and filopodia. We also found that ATP induced activation of Rac1 and Cdc42, and promoted expression of MMP-3 and MMP-13. These data suggest that extracellular ATP enhances the invasion of prostate cancer cells by activating Rho GTPases Rac1 and Cdc42 and upregulating MMPs expression.