Transforming Growth Factor-Beta in Prostate Cancer

TGF-β induces matrisome pathological alterations and EMT in patient-derived prostate cancer tumoroids

“…Despite the dual role of this signalling pathway in cancer progression, its deregulation has been implicated in the aetiopathogenesis of PCa. 17,29 in fact, high TGFβ levels were indicated as a risk factor for tumour development and progression, with consistently increased levels found in patients with PCa. 39 We first confirmed that the treatment of healthy prostate cells with TGF-β increases the expression of the mesenchymal markers (VIM) in these cells, suggesting they might undergo EMT which has been proven important in PCa prognosis since it is correlated with the occurrence of PCa bone metastatization.…”

“…Given the increasing evidence on TGF-β role as tumour promoter, 29 we hypothesized that a component of the culture medium and a well-known inhibitor of SMAD signalling and EMT induced by TGF-β activity -A83-01 -30 could be responsible for the loss of the pathological features in cultured PCTs. To confirm our hypothesis, we conducted a pilot experiment in which we stimulated healthy human prostate cell line (PNT2) with TGF-β (10 µg/mL) for 2 days and analysed the changes in their phenotype.…”