Abstract
Increasing evidence points towards a causal link between exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) with increased incidence and aggressivity of various cancers. Among these POPs, dioxin and PCB-153 are widely found in our environment and represent a significant source of contamination. Dioxin exposure has already been linked to cancer such as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, but remains to be more extensively investigated in other cancers. Potential implications of dioxin and PCB-153 in prostate cancer progression spurred us to challenge both ex vivo and in vivo models with low doses of these POPs. We found that dioxin or PCB-153 exposure increased hallmarks of growth and metastasis of prostate cancer cells ex vivo and in grafted NOD-SCID mice. Exposure induced histopathological carcinoma-like patterns in the Ptenpc−/− mice. We identified up-regulation of Acetyl-CoA Acetyltransferase-1 (ACAT1) involved in ketone bodies pathway as a potential target. Mechanistically, genetic inhibition confirmed that ACAT1 mediated dioxin effect on cell migration. Using public prostate cancer datasets, we confirmed the deregulation of ACAT1 and associated gene encoded ketone bodies pathway enzymes such as OXCT1, BDH1 and HMGCL in advanced prostate cancer. To further explore this link between dioxin and ACAT1 deregulation, we analyzed a unique prostate-tumour tissue collection from the USA veterans exposed to agent orange, known to be highly contaminated by dioxin because of industrial production. We found that ACAT1 histoscore is significantly increased in exposed patients. Our studies reveal the implication of dioxin and PCB-153 to induce a prometastatic programme in prostate tumours and identify ACAT1 deregulation as a key event in this process.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank Sandrine Plantade, Philippe Mazuel and Khirredine Ouchen for mouse care, Anip@th technical staff (iGReD, Clermont-Ferrand) for histological analyses, SC3 and CLIC platforms (iGReD, Clermont-Ferrand) for cell manipulations and imaging, Bioinformatic platform (iGReD, Clermont-Ferrand) for computational analysis, Jean-Paul Saru for western blot analyses. We thank Dr. Arun Sreekumar and Dr. Jie Gohlke (Baylor College of Medecine, Houston) for help and fruitful discussions in the preparation/interpretation of TMA analysis. We warmly thank Kathleen Gates for careful editing of the manuscript. Part of this study was supported by Région Auvergne Rhône Alpes, Fond Européen de Développement Régional (FEDER), Plan National de Recherche sur les Perturbateurs Endocriniens (13-MRES-PNRPE-1-CVS043), Plan-Cancer 2014-2019 for Jean Marc Lobaccaro and Silvère Baron, and Ligue contre le Cancer Rhône Alpes Auvergne et Saône et Loire for Cyrille de Joussineau. JB is a postdoc funded by Plan-Cancer 2014-2019. Prostate Cancer Foundation - VALOR Challenge grant provided support for MI and JJ in the acquisition/prep of PCa tissues. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript
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Acquisition of the data: Jb, SB, JML, SD, EB, JPS, ADH. TMA conception and analysis: MI, JJ, MPV, LG, CDS, FPL, MK. Microscopic and confocal imaging: JB, CDS, MV, CdJ. AHR ChIPseq analysis: JB, YR, JM. Conception and design of the manuscript: JB, JML, SB. Analysis and interpretation of the data: JB, JML, SB. Drafting of the manuscript: JB, JML, SB. Critically revising the manuscript: JB, JML, SB, AT, FD, AK, SC, FB.
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Buñay, J., Kossai, M., Damon-Soubeyrant, C. et al. Persistent organic pollutants promote aggressiveness in prostate cancer. Oncogene 42, 2854–2867 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41388-023-02788-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41388-023-02788-2