Androgen control of cell proliferation and cytoskeletal reorganization in human fibrosarcoma cells: role of RhoB signaling

J Biol Chem. 2004 Jan 9;279(2):937-44. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M311325200. Epub 2003 Oct 23.

Abstract

We recently generated an HT-1080-derived cell line called HT-AR1 that responds to dihydrotestosterone (DHT) treatment by undergoing cell growth arrest in association with cytoskeletal reorganization and induction of neuroendocrine-like cell differentiation. In this report, we show that DHT induces a dose-dependent increase in G0/G1 growth-arrested cells using physiological levels of hormone. The arrested cells increase in cell size and contain a dramatic redistribution of desmoplakin, keratin 5, and chromogranin A proteins. DHT-induced cytoskeletal changes were also apparent from time lapse video microscopy that showed that androgen treatment resulted in the rapid appearance of neuronal-like membrane extensions. Expression profiling analysis using RNA isolated from DHT-treated HT-AR1 cells revealed that androgen receptor activation leads to the coordinate expression of numerous cell signaling genes including RhoB, PTGF-beta, caveolin-2, Egr-1, myosin 1B, and EHM2. Because RhoB has been shown to have a role in tumor suppression and neuronal differentiation in other cell types, we investigated RhoB signaling functions in the HT-AR1 steroid response. We found that steroid induction of RhoB was DHT-specific and that newly synthesized RhoB protein was post-translationally modified and localized to endocytic vesicles. Moreover, treatment with a farnesyl transferase inhibitor reduced DHT-dependent growth arrest, suggesting that prenylated RhoB might function to inhibit HT-AR1 cell proliferation. This was directly shown by transfecting HT-AR1 cells with RhoB coding sequences containing activating or dominant negative mutations.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Androgens / metabolism*
  • Blotting, Northern
  • Blotting, Western
  • Cell Cycle
  • Cell Differentiation
  • Cell Division
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cytoskeleton / metabolism*
  • Dihydrotestosterone / pharmacology
  • Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
  • Endocytosis
  • Fibrosarcoma / metabolism*
  • G1 Phase
  • Genes, Dominant
  • Humans
  • Microscopy, Video
  • Mutation
  • Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis
  • Resting Phase, Cell Cycle
  • Signal Transduction
  • Time Factors
  • Transfection
  • rhoB GTP-Binding Protein / metabolism*

Substances

  • Androgens
  • Dihydrotestosterone
  • rhoB GTP-Binding Protein