Signaling regulation and role of filamin A cleavage in Ca2+-stimulated migration of androgen receptor-deficient prostate cancer cells

Abstract

Ca2+, a ubiquitous cellular signal, and filamin A, an actin-binding protein, play an important role in the regulation of cell adhesion, shape and motility. Using transwell filters to analyze cell migration, we found that extracellular Ca2+ (Cao2+) promotes the migration of androgen receptor (AR)-deficient and highly metastatic prostate cancer cell lines (DU145 and PC-3) compared to AR-positive and relatively less metastatic prostate cancer cells (LNCaP). Furthermore, we found that expression of filamin A is up-regulated in DU145 and PC-3 cells, and that Cao2+ significantly induces the cleavage of filamin A. Silencing expression of Ca2+-sensing receptor (CaR) and p115RhoGEF, and treating with leupeptin, a protease inhibitor, and ALLM, a calpain specific inhibitor, we further demonstrate that Cao2+-induced filamin A cleavage occurs via a CaR- p115RhoGEF-calpain dependent pathway. Our data show that Cao2+ via CaR- mediated signaling induces filamin A cleavage and promotes the migration in AR-deficient and highly metastatic prostate cancer cells.