N-cadherin increases after androgen deprivation and is associated with metastasis in prostate cancer

Androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) is the standard treatment for metastatic prostate cancer. One factor that has been implicated in the metastatic process is the cell adhesion molecule N-cadherin. In this study, we investigated if the expression of N-cadherin was influenced by androgen deprivation and was associated with metastasis in prostate cancer. The effect of androgen deprivation on N-cadherin expression was initially studied in androgen-dependent (AD) LNCaP and androgen-independent (AI) LNCaP-19 and PC-3 prostate cancer cell lines. Expression of N-cadherin increased in the absence of androgens in AI LNCaP-19 primary tumors and metastases and also in vitro, but not in AI PC-3 tumors, indicating a possible involvement of the androgen receptor in the regulation of N-cadherin. N-cadherin was absent in AD LNCaP tumors. No clear associations between N-cadherin and factors related with epithelial-mesenchymal transition or neuroendocrine differentiation could be established. In addition, N-cadherin was evaluated by immunohistochemistry in human prostate tumors. Expression of N-cadherin was more frequently found in tumors from patients treated with ADT than in tumors from patients with no prior hormonal treatment. N-cadherin expression was also associated with metastasis and Gleason score. Furthermore, increased N-cadherin was detected in prostate cancer biopsies already 3 months after initiation of ADT when tumors were in a regressed state. In summary the results indicate that androgen deprivation induces N-cadherin in prostate tumors. Moreover, N-cadherin was increased in castration-resistant tumors in patients with established metastases. This might indicate that castration induces molecular alterations in the tumor cells, resulting in a more invasive and metastatic phenotype. Endocrine-Related Cancer (2010) 17 469-479