Study the role of the hypusination pathway in the progression of prostate cancer
We studied the involvement of the hypusination pathway in prostate cancer progression using various models, including patient-derived tumor organoid cell lines and in vivo mouse models. We employed different omics techniques to identify the molecular mechanisms linking hypusination to the aggressiveness of prostate cancer. Overall design: We performed RNA-seq on DU145 cells treated for 24 h with GC7 at a concentration of 40 µM. And we carried out polysome-profiling followed by sequencing of polysome-associated mRNAs (i.e. heavy ribosome-bound fractions), as well as sequencing of the cytoplasmic (total) mRNA fraction. This combined approach was designed to compare changes at the transcriptome level (via RNA-seq) and at the translatome level (via polysome-associated mRNAs), thus allowing us to assess how inhibition of hypusination affects not only mRNA abundance, but also mRNA translation (ribosome loading) in DU145 prostate cancer cells.