Improved Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA) Stimulation Using a Super Additive Effect of Dutasteride and Lovastatin In Vitro

Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-based imaging improved the detection of primary, recurrent and metastatic prostate cancer. However, in certain patients, a low PSMA surface expression can be a limitation for this promising diagnostic tool. Pharmacological induction of PSMA might be useful to further improve the detection rate of PSMA-based imaging. To achieve this, we tested dutasteride (Duta)-generally used for treatment of benign prostatic enlargement-and lovastatin (Lova)-a compound used to reduce blood lipid concentrations. We aimed to compare the individual effects of Duta and Lova on cell proliferation as well as PSMA expression. In addition, we tested if a combination treatment using lower concentrations of Duta and Lova can further induce PSMA expression. Our results show that a treatment with & LE;1 & mu;M Duta and & GE;1 & mu;M Lova lead to a significant upregulation of whole and cell surface PSMA expression in LNCaP, C4-2 and VCaP cells. Lower concentrations of Duta and Lova in combination (0.5 & mu;M Duta + 0.5 & mu;M Lova or 0.5 & mu;M Duta + 1 & mu;M Lova) were further capable of enhancing PSMA protein expression compared to a single compound treatment using higher concentrations in all tested cell lines (LNCaP, C4-2 and VCaP).

Automated summary

PSMA-based imaging is a promising diagnostic tool for detecting prostate cancer, but low PSMA expression can limit its effectiveness. Inducing PSMA expression pharmacologically may improve the detection rate. In this study, we found that treatment with low concentrations of dutasteride (Duta) and lovastatin (Lova) significantly upregulated PSMA expression in prostate cancer cells. Combination treatment with lower concentrations of Duta and Lova further enhanced PSMA expression compared to single compound treatment.