Silencing of androgen receptor (AR)-meditated androgen signaling is thought to be associated with the development of testicular germ cell tumors (TGCTs). However, the role of the androgen/AR signal in TGCT development has not been investigated. In this study, we show that the androgen/AR signal suppressed the cell growth of seminomas (SEs), a type of TGCT, in vitro and in vivo. Growth of SE cells was suppressed by DHT treatment and reduction of androgen levels by surgical castration promoted cancer cell growth in an in vivo xenograft model. Tryptophan hydroxylase 1 (TPH1), the rate limit enzyme in serotonin synthesis, was one of the genes which expression was reduced in DHT-treated SE cells. TPH1 was highly expressed in SE cancer tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues. Activation of androgen/AR signaling in SE cells reduced the expression of TPH1 in SE cells, followed by the reduction of serotonin secretion in cell culture supernatant. These results suggested that silencing of androgen/AR signaling may cause initiation and progression of SE through increase in TPH1 gene expression level.
Keywords: androgen; androgen receptor; seminoma; testicular cancer; tryptophan hydroxylase 1.