Laboratory of Cancer Genomics, Fondazione Edo ed Elvo Tempia, via Malta 3 - 13900 Biella, Italy.
Department of Research, Molecular Immunology Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, 20133 Milan, Italy.
Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Feb 6;21(3):1078. doi: 10.3390/ijms21031078.
Neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC) can arise de novo, but much more commonly occurs as a consequence of a selective pressure from androgen deprivation therapy or androgen receptor antagonists used for prostate cancer (PCa) treatment. The process is known as neuroendocrine transdifferentiation. There is little molecular characterization of NEPCs and consequently there is no standard treatment for this kind of tumors, characterized by highly metastases rates and poor survival. For this purpose, we profiled 54 PCa samples with more than 10-years follow-up for gene and miRNA expression. We divided samples into two groups (NE-like vs. AdenoPCa), according to their clinical and molecular features. NE-like tumors were characterized by a neuroendocrine fingerprint made of known neuroendocrine markers and novel molecules, including long non-coding RNAs and components of the estrogen receptor signaling. A gene expression signature able to predict NEPC was built and tested on independently published datasets. This study identified molecular features (protein-coding, long non-coding, and microRNAs), at the time of surgery, that may anticipate the NE transformation process of prostate adenocarcinoma. Our results may contribute to improving the diagnosis and treatment of this subgroup of tumors for which traditional therapy regimens do not show beneficial effects.
神经内分泌前列腺癌 (NEPC) 可以是原发的,但更常见的是由于去势治疗或用于治疗前列腺癌 (PCa) 的雄激素受体拮抗剂的选择性压力而发生。这个过程被称为神经内分泌转化。由于对 NEPC 的分子特征了解甚少,因此针对这种肿瘤没有标准的治疗方法,其特点是转移率高和生存率低。为此,我们对 54 例具有 10 年以上随访的 PCa 样本进行了基因和 miRNA 表达分析。我们根据其临床和分子特征将样本分为两组(NE 样与 AdenoPCa)。NE 样肿瘤的特征是具有已知的神经内分泌标志物和新分子的神经内分泌指纹,包括长链非编码 RNA 和雌激素受体信号的组成部分。我们构建了一个能够预测 NEPC 的基因表达特征,并在独立发表的数据集上进行了测试。这项研究确定了在手术时可能预示前列腺腺癌的 NE 转化过程的分子特征(编码蛋白、长链非编码和 microRNAs)。我们的结果可能有助于改善对这些肿瘤亚群的诊断和治疗,因为传统的治疗方案对其没有有益效果。