Elevated alpha-methylacyl-CoA racemase enzymatic activity in prostate cancer.
Alpha-methylacyl-CoA racemase (AMACR) is a peroxisomal and mitochondrial enzyme involved in the beta-oxidation of branched fatty acids, shown to be elevated in prostate cancer by several recent studies. Sequence variants of AMACR have been linked to prostate cancer risk. Although mRNA transcript, protein, and sequence variants of AMACR have been studied in the context of prostate cancer, AMACR enzymatic activity has not been addressed. Here we present evidence that AMACR activity is consistently elevated in prostate cancer tissue specimens. This activity can be immunodepleted from prostate cancer tissue extracts. Furthermore, mock needle biopsy cores containing foci of prostate cancer exhibited increased AMACR enzymatic activity, correlating with both protein levels and histopathology. Taken together, our studies suggest that AMACR activity is increased in prostate cancer relative to benign epithelia and suggests that monitoring AMACR activity levels in prostate needle biopsies may have clinical applications.
Department of Pathology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-0602, USA.
Chandan
C
Kumar-Sinha
Rajal B
RB
Shah
Bharathi
B
Laxman
Scott A
SA
Tomlins
Jason
J
Harwood
Werner
W
Schmitz
Ernst
E
Conzelmann
Martin G
MG
Sanda
John T
JT
Wei
Mark A
MA
Rubin
Arul M
AM
Chinnaiyan
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D006801:Humans; D015151:Immunoblotting; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D042282:Microdissection; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000473:pathology; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D019998:Racemases and Epimerases / Q000378:metabolism*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D019998:Racemases and Epimerases; C108352:alpha-methylacyl-CoA racemase