title: A peptide against soluble guanylyl cyclase α1: a new approach to treating prostate cancer.
abstract: Among the many identified androgen-regulated genes, sGCα1 (soluble guanylyl cyclase α1) appears to play a pivotal role in mediating the pro-cancer effects of androgens and androgen receptor. The classical role for sGCα1 is to heterodimerize with the sGCβ1 subunit, forming sGC, the enzyme that mediates nitric oxide signaling by catalyzing the synthesis of cyclic guanosine monophosphate. Our published data show that sGCα1 can drive prostate cancer cell proliferation independent of hormone and provide cancer cells a pro-survival function, via a novel mechanism for p53 inhibition, both of which are independent of sGCβ1, NO, and cGMP. All of these properties make sGCα1 an important novel target for prostate cancer therapy. Thus, peptides were designed targeting sGCα1 with the aim of disrupting this protein's pro-cancer activities. One peptide (A-8R) was determined to be strongly cytotoxic to prostate cancer cells, rapidly inducing apoptosis. Cytotoxicity was observed in both hormone-dependent and, significantly, hormone-refractory prostate cancer cells, opening the possibility that this peptide can be used to treat the usually lethal castration-resistant prostate cancer. In mouse xenograft studies, Peptide A-8R was able to stop tumor growth of not only hormone-dependent cells, but most importantly from hormone-independent cells. In addition, the mechanism of Peptide A cytotoxicity is generation of reactive oxygen species, which recently have been recognized as a major mode of action of important cancer drugs. Thus, this paper provides strong evidence that targeting an important AR-regulated gene is a new paradigm for effective prostate cancer therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio, United States of America.
authors.forename: Shuai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Chen-Lin
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Hsieh
authors.forename: Meenakshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bhansali
authors.forename: Archana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kannan
authors.forename: Lirim
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shemshedini
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000633:toxicity; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D015536:Down-Regulation / Q000187:drug effects; D004789:Enzyme Activation / Q000187:drug effects; D006162:Guanylate Cyclase / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D009919:Orchiectomy; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000633:toxicity; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D011485:Protein Binding; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / Q000378:metabolism; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species / Q000378:metabolism; D018160:Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000378:metabolism; D000071756:Soluble Guanylyl Cyclase; D047368:Tumor Burden / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D010455:Peptides; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species; D018160:Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; D006162:Guanylate Cyclase; D000071756:Soluble Guanylyl Cyclase