Expression of IGF/insulin receptor in prostate cancer tissue and progression to lethal disease

Carcinogenesis. 2018 Dec 31;39(12):1431-1437. doi: 10.1093/carcin/bgy112.

Abstract

Circulating insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) is consistently associated with prostate cancer risk. IGF-1 binds to IGF-1 receptor (IGF1R) and insulin receptor (IR), activating cancer hallmark pathways. Experimental evidence suggests that TMPRSS2:ERG may interact with IGF/insulin signaling to influence progression. We investigated IGF1R and IR expression and its association with lethal prostate cancer among 769 men. Protein expression of IGF1R, IR and ERG (i.e. a surrogate of ERG fusion genes) were assayed by immunohistochemistry. Cox models estimated hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) adjusted for clinical characteristics. Among patients, 29% had strong tumor IGF1R expression and 10% had strong IR expression. During a mean follow-up of 13.2 years through 2012, 80 men (11%) developed lethal disease. Tumors with strong IGF1R or IR expression showed increased cell proliferation, decreased apoptosis and a higher prevalence of ERG. In multivariable models, strong IGF1R was associated with a borderline increased risk of lethal prostate cancer (HR 1.7; 95% CI 0.9-3.1). The association appeared greater in ERG-positive tumors (HR 2.8; 95% CI 0.9-8.4) than in ERG-negative tumors (HR 1.3; 95% CI 0.6-3.0, p-heterogeneity 0.08). There was no association between IR and lethal prostate cancer (HR 0.8; 95% CI 0.4-1.9). These results suggest that tumor IGF1R expression may play a role in prostate cancer progression to a lethal phenotype and that ERG-positive tumors may be more sensitive to IGF signaling. These data may improve our understanding of IGF signaling in prostate cancer and suggest therapeutic options for disease subtypes.

Publication types

  • Randomized Controlled Trial
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Apoptosis / genetics
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / genetics
  • Cell Proliferation / genetics
  • Disease Progression
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / genetics
  • Humans
  • Insulin / genetics
  • Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / genetics*
  • Male
  • Oncogene Proteins, Fusion / genetics
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / genetics*
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Receptor, IGF Type 1
  • Receptor, Insulin / genetics*
  • Receptors, Somatomedin / genetics*
  • Signal Transduction / genetics
  • Transcriptional Regulator ERG / genetics

Substances

  • Biomarkers, Tumor
  • IGF1 protein, human
  • IGF1R protein, human
  • Insulin
  • Oncogene Proteins, Fusion
  • Receptors, Somatomedin
  • Transcriptional Regulator ERG
  • Insulin-Like Growth Factor I
  • Receptor, IGF Type 1
  • Receptor, Insulin