Upregulation of VEGF-C by androgen depletion: the involvement of IGF-IR-FOXO pathway

Androgen ablation therapy is eventually followed by a more metastatic and androgen-refractory stage of prostate cancer. The detailed molecular mechanism of this gradual transition is not clearly understood. Recent reports correlate the high abundance of vascular endothelial growth factor-C (VEGF-C) to the lymph node metastasis seen in human prostate cancer (Tsurusaki et al., 1999). In this study, we report that androgen ablation in LNCaP cells augment the transcriptional upregulation of VEGF-C and the downregulation of the IGF-IR pathway, due to androgen withdrawal, is a potential mechanism for this observed VEGF-C transcription. Forkhead transcription factor FOXO-1, activated by SIRT-1, was identified as the downstream molecule within this pathway. Furthermore, the VEGF-C-induced increase of Bag-IL expression in LNCaP cells suggests that VEGF-C plays a role in the androgen-independent reactivation of the androgen receptor, resulting in androgen-refractory prostate cancer growth.