Cells (Dec 2022)

SFRP2 Overexpression Induces an Osteoblast-like Phenotype in Prostate Cancer Cells

  • Elif Akova Ölken,
  • Attila Aszodi,
  • Hanna Taipaleenmäki,
  • Hiroaki Saito,
  • Veronika Schönitzer,
  • Michael Chaloupka,
  • Maria Apfelbeck,
  • Wolfgang Böcker,
  • Maximilian Michael Saller

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/cells11244081
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 24
p. 4081

Abstract

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Prostate cancer bone metastasis is still one of the most fatal cancer diagnoses for men. Survival of the circulating prostate tumor cells and their adaptation strategy to survive in the bone niche is the key point to determining metastasis in early cancer stages. The promoter of SFRP2 gene, encoding a WNT signaling modulator, is hypermethylated in many cancer types including prostate cancer. Moreover, SFRP2 can positively regulate osteogenic differentiation in vitro and in vivo. Here, we showed SFRP2 overexpression in the prostate cancer cell line PC3 induces an epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT), increases the attachment, and modifies the transcriptome towards an osteoblast-like phenotype (osteomimicry) in a collagen 1-dependent manner. Our data reflect a novel molecular mechanism concerning how metastasizing prostate cancer cells might increase their chance to survive within bone tissue.

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