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Metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) is the primary cause of prostate cancer-specific mortality. Defining new mechanisms that can predict recurrence and drive lethal CRPC is critical. Here, we demonstrate that localized high-risk prostate cancer and metastatic CRPC, but not benign prostate tissues or low/intermediate-risk prostate cancer, express high levels of nuclear Notch homolog 1, translocation-associated (Notch1) receptor intracellular domain. Chronic activation of Notch1 synergizes with multiple oncogenic pathways altered in early disease to promote the development of prostate adenocarcinoma. These tumors display features of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, a cellular state associated with increased tumor aggressiveness. Consistent with its activation in clinical CRPC, tumors driven by Notch1 intracellular domain in combination with multiple pathways altered in prostate cancer are metastatic and resistant to androgen deprivation. Our study provides functional evidence that the Notch1 signaling axis synergizes with alternative pathways in promoting metastatic CRPC and may represent a new therapeutic target for advanced prostate cancer.

Mutationally activated kinases play an important role in the progression and metastasis of many cancers. Despite numerous oncogenic alterations implicated in metastatic prostate cancer, mutations of kinases are rare. Several lines of evidence suggest that nonmutated kinases and their pathways are involved in prostate cancer progression, but few kinases have been mechanistically linked to metastasis. Using a mass spectrometry-based phosphoproteomics dataset in concert with gene expression analysis, we selected over 100 kinases potentially implicated in human metastatic prostate cancer for functional evaluation. A primary in vivo screen based on overexpression of candidate kinases in murine prostate cells identified 20 wild-type kinases that promote metastasis. We queried these 20 kinases in a secondary in vivo screen using human prostate cells. Strikingly, all three RAF family members, MERTK, and NTRK2 drove the formation of bone and visceral metastasis confirmed by positron-emission tomography combined with computed tomography imaging and histology. Immunohistochemistry of tissue microarrays indicated that these kinases are highly expressed in human metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer tissues. Our functional studies reveal the strong capability of select wild-type protein kinases to drive critical steps of the metastatic cascade, and implicate these kinases in possible therapeutic intervention.

In prostate cancer, multiple metastases from the same patient share similar copy number, mutational status, erythroblast transformation specific (ETS) rearrangements, and methylation patterns supporting their clonal origins. Whether actionable targets such as tyrosine kinases are also similarly expressed and activated in anatomically distinct metastatic lesions of the same patient is not known. We evaluated active kinases using phosphotyrosine peptide enrichment and quantitative mass spectrometry to identify druggable targets in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer obtained at rapid autopsy. We identified distinct phosphopeptide patterns in metastatic tissues compared with treatment-naive primary prostate tissue and prostate cancer cell line-derived xenografts. Evaluation of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer samples for tyrosine phosphorylation and upstream kinase targets revealed SRC, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), rearranged during transfection (RET), anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK), and MAPK1/3 and other activities while exhibiting intrapatient similarity and interpatient heterogeneity. Phosphoproteomic analyses and identification of kinase activation states in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer patients have allowed for the prioritization of kinases for further clinical evaluation.