PMID: 11912136Mar 26, 2002Paper

Retinol metabolism and lecithin:retinol acyltransferase levels are reduced in cultured human prostate cancer cells and tissue specimens

Cancer Research
Xiaojia GuoLorraine J Gudas

Abstract

Recent studies from our laboratory have indicated that the metabolism of vitamin A (retinol) to retinyl esters, carried out primarily by the enzyme lecithin:retinol acyltransferase (LRAT), is greatly reduced in human carcinoma cell lines of the oral cavity, skin, breast, and kidney as compared with their normal epithelial counterparts. These studies suggest that human carcinoma cells are retinoid-deficient relative to normal epithelial cells. In this study, we examined the metabolism of [(3)H]retinol and [(3)H]retinoic acid (RA) in human prostate cancer lines and in primary cultures of human prostate epithelial cells. Normal cells esterified all of the [(3)H]retinol added to the cultures. In contrast, all seven prostate cancer cell lines and four primary cultures derived from prostatic adenocarcinomas metabolized only trace amounts of [(3)H]retinol to [(3)H]retinyl esters. Correlated with this relative lack of esterification of [(3)H]retinol by the cancer cells was loss of expression of LRAT protein, whereas normal cells expressed abundant levels of LRAT protein by Western analysis. The metabolism of [(3)H]RA was also examined in these prostatic cells. Two of the prostate cancer tumor lines, DU 145 and PJ-1, exhibited rapid met...Continue Reading

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