title: Low-density lipoprotein receptors play an important role in the inhibition of prostate cancer cell proliferation by statins.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There are some reports about the antitumor effects of statins in these days. Statins decrease the level of cholesterol in the blood by inhibiting 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase. Inhibition of this enzyme decreases intracellular cholesterol synthesis. Thus, the expression of low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLr) is increased to import more cholesterol from the bloodstream. In this study, we assessed the effects of statins on the proliferation of prostate cancer cells, and studied the relationship between the expression of LDLr and the effects of statins.
  
  
  METHODS
  Simvastatin was used in the experiments. We studied the effect of simvastatin on PC-3 and LNCaP cell proliferation using the MTS assay, and evaluated the expression of LDLr after administration of simvastatin by quantitative polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting. Intracellular cholesterol levels in the prostate cancer cells were measured after administration of simvastatin. Furthermore, small interfering RNA (siRNA) was used to knockdown the gene expression of LDLr.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In PC-3 cells, simvastatin inhibited cell proliferation. In LNCaP cells, only a high concentration of simvastatin (100μM) inhibited cell proliferation. In LNCaP cells, the protein level of LDLr was increased by simvastatin. In PC-3 cells, the protein levels of LDLr were unregulated. In PC-3 cells, but not in LNCaP cells, intracellular cholesterol levels were significantly decreased by simvastatin. After knocking down LDLr expression by siRNA, intracellular cholesterol levels were decreased, and cell proliferation was inhibited by simvastatin in LNCaP cells.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Simvastatin inhibited prostate cancer cell growth by decreasing cellular cholesterol and could be more effective in androgen-independent prostate cancer, where there is loss of regulation of LDLr expression. LDLr was shown to play an important role in the statin-induced inhibition of prostate cancer cell proliferation. These results suggest that future studies evaluating the cholesterol-lowering effects of statin may lead to new approaches to the prevention and treatment of prostate cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Japan.
authors.forename: Yosuke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Furuya
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshitaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sekine
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Japan.
authors.forename: Haruo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshiyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Miyazawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Japan.
authors.forename: Hidekazu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Koike
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Suzuki
keywords: Cholesterol; Low-density lipoprotein receptor; Prostate cancer; Statins