Purpose: To study the role of the adrenomedullin system [adrenomedullin and its receptors (AMR), CLR, RAMP2, and RAMP3] in prostate cancer androgen-independent growth.
Experimental design: Androgen-dependent and -independent prostate cancer models were used to investigate the role and mechanisms of adrenomedullin in prostate cancer hormone-independent growth and tumor-associated angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis.
Results: Adrenomedullin and AMR were immunohistochemically localized in the carcinomatous epithelial compartment of prostate cancer specimens of high grade (Gleason score >7), suggesting a role of the adrenomedullin system in prostate cancer growth. We used the androgen-independent Du145 cells, for which we demonstrate that adrenomedullin stimulated cell proliferation in vitro through the cAMP/CRAF/MEK/ERK pathway. The proliferation of Du145 and PC3 cells is decreased by anti-adrenomedullin antibody (αAM), supporting the fact that adrenomedullin may function as a potent autocrine/paracrine growth factor for prostate cancer androgen-independent cells. In vivo, αAM therapy inhibits the growth of Du145 androgen-independent xenografts and interestingly of LNCaP androgen-dependent xenografts only in castrated animals, suggesting strongly that adrenomedullin might play an important role in tumor regrowth following androgen ablation. Histologic examination of αAM-treated tumors showed evidence of disruption of tumor vascularity, with depletion of vascular as well as lymphatic endothelial cells and pericytes, and increased lymphatic endothelial cell apoptosis. Importantly, αAM potently blocks tumor-associated lymphangiogenesis, but does not affect established vasculature and lymphatic vessels in normal adult mice.
Conclusions: We conclude that expression of adrenomedullin upon androgen ablation in prostate cancer plays an important role in hormone-independent tumor growth and in neovascularization by supplying/amplifying signals essential for pathologic neoangiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis. Clin Cancer Res; 19(22); 6138-50. ©2013 AACR.