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A potential target of hormone action during prostate and mammary involution is the intercellular junction of adjacent secretory epithelium. This is supported by the long-standing observation that one of the first visible stages of prostate and mammary involution is the disruption of interepithelial adhesion prior to the onset of apoptosis. In a previous study addressing this aspect of involution, we acquired compelling evidence indicating that the disruption of E-cadherin-dependent adhesion initiates apoptotic programs during prostate and mammary involution. In cultured prostate and mammary epithelial cells, inhibition of E-cadherin-dependent aggregation resulted in cell death following apoptotic stimuli. Loss of cell-cell adhesion in the nonaggregated population appeared to result from the rapid truncation within the cytosolic domain of the mature, 120-kDa species of E-cadherin (E-cad(120)). Immunoprecipitations from cell culture and involuting mammary gland demonstrated that this truncation removed the beta-catenin binding domain from the cytoplasmic tail of E-cadherin, resulting in a non-beta-catenin binding, membrane-bound 97-kDa species (E-cad(97)) and a free cytoplasmic 35-kDa form (E-cad(35)) that is bound to beta-catenin. Examination of E-cadherin expression and cellular distribution during prostate and mammary involution revealed a dramatic reduction in junctional membrane staining that correlated with a similar reduction in E-cad(120) and accumulation of E-cad(97) and E-cad(35). The observation that E-cadherin was truncated during involution suggested that hormone depletion activated the same apoptotic pathway in vivo as observed in vitro. Based on these findings, we hypothesize that truncation of E-cadherin results in the loss of beta-catenin binding and cellular dissociation that may signal epithelial apoptosis during prostate and mammary involution. Thus, E-cadherin may be central to homeostatic regulation in these tissues by coordinating adhesion-dependent survival and dissociation-induced apoptosis.

E-cadherin and the retinoblastoma tumor suppressor (Rb) are traditionally associated with diverse regulatory aspects of cell growth and differentiation. However, we have discovered new evidence, which suggests that these proteins are functionally linked in a physiologic pathway required for cell survival and programmed cell death. Pharmacological activation of protein kinase C (PKC) or inducible overexpression and activation of the alpha isozyme of PKC (PKCalpha) resulted in approximately 60% apoptosis of mammary and prostate epithelial cells. Interestingly, the surviving cells had undergone dramatic aggregation concurrent with increased E-cadherin expression. When aggregation was inhibited by the addition of an E-cadherin-blocking antibody, apoptosis increased synergistically. We hypothesized that survival of the aggregated population was associated with contact-inhibited growth and that apoptosis might result from aberrant growth regulatory signals in non-aggregated, cycling cells. This hypothesis was confirmed by experiments that demonstrated that E-cadherin-dependent aggregation resulted in Rb-mediated G1 arrest and survival. Immunoblot analysis and flow cytometry revealed that hypophosphorylated Rb was present in non-aggregated, S phase cultures concurrent with synergistic cell death. We have also determined that the loss of membrane E-cadherin and subsequent hypophosphorylation of Rb in luminal epithelial cells preceded apoptosis induced by castration. These findings provide compelling evidence that suggests that E-cadherin-mediated aggregation results in Rb activation and G1 arrest that is critical for survival of prostate and mammary epithelial cells. These data also indicate that Rb can initiate a fatal growth signal conflict in non-aggregated, cycling cells when the protein is hypophosphorylated as these epithelial cells enter S phase.

Epithelial cells are dependent upon adhesion to extracellular matrix for survival. We show that loss of beta1 integrin receptor contact with extracellular matrix signals the inhibition of G1 cyclin-dependent kinase activity. This loss of cyclin-dependent kinase activity leads to accumulation of the hypophosphorylated (active) form of the retinoblastoma tumor suppressor protein (Rb). We present evidence that in epithelial cells deprived of matrix contact, the growth suppression signal elicited by hypophosphorylated Rb opposes stimulatory signals from serum growth factors, leading to a cell cycle conflict that triggers apoptosis. This apoptotic pathway is modulated by Bcl-2 through a novel mechanism that regulates Rb phosphorylation. We present evidence that the Rb-dependent apoptotic pathway functions in vivo in the apoptosis of the prostate glandular epithelium following castration.

Both protein kinase C and the retinoblastoma tumor suppressor protein have been linked to the regulation of cell growth and cell death, suggesting the differential roles these factors play in mediating cell fate. In some cells, protein kinase C-induced activation of the retinoblastoma protein results in G1 arrest. However, inducible overexpression and activation of the protein kinase Calpha isozyme or the addition of 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate in the prostate epithelial cell line, LNCaP, resulted in apoptosis preceded by induction of p21 and dephosphorylation of the retinoblastoma protein. Consistent with a role for the retinoblastoma growth suppressor protein in protein kinase C-induced apoptosis, DU145 cells, which do not express functional retinoblastoma protein or LNCaP cells, which have been transfected with the retinoblastoma inhibitor, E1a, were resistant to apoptosis. LNCaP apoptosis was initiated by a unique conflict between the growth-suppressive activity of the retinoblastoma protein and growth-promoting mitogenic signals. Thus, when this conflict was prevented by serum depletion, apoptosis was suppressed. The caspase family of cysteine proteases is believed to encompass the execution machinery of mammalian apoptosis, and addition of the cell-permeable caspase inhibitor, Z-Val-Ala-Asp-fluoromethylketone, afforded nearly total protection from protein kinase C-signaled apoptosis. This protection correlated with the total loss of caspase activity as measured by the proteolytic cleavage of nuclear poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase. On the basis of these results, we propose that protein kinase C regulates a novel cell death pathway that is initiated by a cellular conflict between retinoblastoma growth-suppressive signals and serum mitogenic signals in proliferating prostate epithelial cells and that is executed by the caspase family of cysteine proteases.