Nuclear receptor NURR1 functions to promote stemness and epithelial-mesenchymal transition in prostate cancer via its targeting of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway

© 2024. The Author(s)..

Dysregulated activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway is a frequent or common event during advanced progression of multiple cancers. With this signaling activation, it enhances their tumorigenic growth and facilitates metastasis and therapy resistance. Advances show that this signaling pathway can play dual regulatory roles in the control of cellular processes epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and cancer stemness in cancer progression. Aberrant activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway is shown to be common in prostate cancer and also castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). However, the transcriptional regulators of this pathway in prostate cancer are still not well characterized. NURR1 (NR4A2) is an orphan nuclear receptor and plays an important role in the development of dopaminergic neurons. Previously, we have shown that NURR1 exhibits an upregulation in isolated prostate cancer stem-like cells (PCSCs) and a xenograft model of CRPC. In this study, we further confirmed that NURR1 exhibited an upregulation in prostate cancer and also enhanced expression in prostate cancer cell lines. Functional and molecular analyses showed that NURR1 could act to promote both in vitro (cancer stemness and EMT) and also in vivo oncogenic growth of prostate cancer cells (metastasis and castration resistance) via its direct transactivation of CTNNB1 (β-catenin) and activation of β-catenin to mediate the activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. Moreover, we also demonstrated that NURR1 activity in prostate cancer cells could be modulated by small molecules, implicating that NURR1 could be a potential therapeutic target for advanced prostate cancer management.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2024

Erschienen:

2024

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:15

Enthalten in:

Cell death & disease - 15(2024), 3 vom: 26. März, Seite 234

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Zhang, Xingxing [VerfasserIn]
Li, Haolong [VerfasserIn]
Wang, Yuliang [VerfasserIn]
Zhao, Hui [VerfasserIn]
Wang, Zhu [VerfasserIn]
Chan, Franky Leung [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Beta Catenin
Journal Article
Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 28.03.2024

Date Revised 29.03.2024

published: Electronic

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1038/s41419-024-06621-w

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM370214110