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5α-Androstane-3α,17β-diol activates pathway that resembles the epidermal growth factor responsive pathways in stimulating human prostate cancer LNCaP cell proliferation

Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases volume 7, pages 364–374 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

5α-Androstane-3α,17β-diol (3α-diol) is considered to have no androgenic effects in androgen target organs unless it is oxidized to 5α-dihydrotestosterone (5α-DHT). We used microarray and bioinformatics to identify and compare 3α-diol and 5α-DHT responsive gene in human prostate LNCaP cells. Through a procedure called ‘hypervariable determination’, a similar set of 30 responsive genes involving signal transduction, transcription regulation, and cell proliferation were selected in 5α-DHT-, 3α-diol-, and epidermal growth factor (EGF)-treated samples. F-means cluster and networking procedures showed that the responsive pattern of these genes was more closely related between 3α-diol and EGF than between 5α-DHT and 3α-diol treatments. We conclude that 3α-diol is capable of stimulating prostate cell proliferation by eliciting EGF-like pathway in conjunction with androgen receptor pathway.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the NIH Grant DK54925 to HKL.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA

    R A Zimmerman, E H Nunlist, X Li, R Cowan, D J Culkin & H-K Lin

  2. Arthritis and Immunology Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA

    I Dozmorov, Y Tang, M Centola & M B Frank

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  1. R A Zimmerman
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Correspondence to H-K Lin.

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Zimmerman, R., Dozmorov, I., Nunlist, E. et al. 5α-Androstane-3α,17β-diol activates pathway that resembles the epidermal growth factor responsive pathways in stimulating human prostate cancer LNCaP cell proliferation. Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis 7, 364–374 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.pcan.4500761

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