Up-regulation of eEF1A2 promotes proliferation and inhibits apoptosis in prostate cancer.
BACKGROUND
eEF1A2 is a protein translation factor involved in protein synthesis, which possesses important function roles in cancer development. This study aims at investigating the expression pattern of eEF1A2 in prostate cancer and its potential role in prostate cancer development.


METHODS
We examined the expression level of eEF1A2 in 30 pairs of prostate cancer tissues by using RT-PCR and immunohistochemical staining (IHC). Then we applied siRNA specifically targeting eEF1A2 to down-regulate its expression in DU-145 and PC-3 cells. Flow cytometer was used to explore apoptosis and Western-blot was used to detect the pathway proteins of apoptosis.


RESULTS
Our results showed that the expression level of eEF1A2 in prostate cancer tissues was significantly higher compared to their corresponding normal tissues. Reduction of eEF1A2 expression in DU-145 and PC-3 cells led to a dramatic inhibition of proliferation accompanied with enhanced apoptosis rate. Western blot revealed that apoptosis pathway proteins (caspase3, BAD, BAX, PUMA) were significantly up-regulated after suppression of eEF1A2. More importantly, the levels of eEF1A2 and caspase3 were inversely correlated in prostate cancer tissues.


CONCLUSIONS
Our data suggests that eEF1A2 plays an important role in prostate cancer development, especially in inhibiting apoptosis. So eEF1A2 might serve as a potential therapeutic target in prostate cancer.
Department of Pathology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University Medical College, Hangzhou, China.
Yue
Y
Sun
Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China.
Chengli
C
Du
Department of Pathology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University Medical College, Hangzhou, China.
Bo
B
Wang
Department of Pathology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University Medical College, Hangzhou, China.
Yanling
Y
Zhang
Department of Pathology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University Medical College, Hangzhou, China.
Xiaoyan
X
Liu
Department of Pathology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University Medical College, Hangzhou, China. Electronic address: renguoping12345@163.com.
Guoping
G
Ren
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017209:Apoptosis; D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020648:Peptide Elongation Factor 1 / Q000378:metabolism*; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D015854:Up-Regulation
D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins; C503234:EEF1A2 protein, human; D020648:Peptide Elongation Factor 1
Apoptosis; Caspase3; Proliferation; Prostate cancer (PCa); eEF1A2