David Danielpour, Ph.D.
Professor of General Medical Sciences/Oncology and Pharmacology
Ireland Cancer Center
School of Medicine
Case Western Reserve University
Wolstein Research Building, Room 3532
2103 Cornell Road
Cleveland, Ohio 44106
Phone: (216) 368-5670
Fax: (216) 368-8919
My laboratory focuses on the role of transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-ß)
as a tumor suppressor and regulator of growth, apoptosis and androgenic responses
in the prostate. TGF-ßs are a family of 25 kDa dimeric regulatory peptides
that function as autocrine, paracrine and possibly endocrine regulators of growth,
apoptosis and differentiation in numerous tissues. Signal transduction by these
peptides is initiated through two cell surface serine/threonine kinase receptors,
TβRII and TβRI. The predominant TGF-β ligand, TGF-β1, first
binds to TβRII, which then recruits and activates TβRI by the constitutively
active TβRII kinase. The activated TβRI in turn recruits and activates
the transcription factors Smads 2 and 3, also known as rSmads. Nuclear targeting
sequences exposed upon activation of rSmads promote their nuclear translocation,
either in association with Smad4 or without Smad4, thereby enabling transcriptional
activation of numerous TGF-β target genes. An important role for TGF-β
in the prostate is strongly implicated by a number of in vivo studies, which demonstrate
that androgens negatively regulate expression of TGF-βs, TGF-β receptors,
and the activation of rSmads in the prostate. In addition, normal cellular responses
to TGF-βs in the prostate are lost during carcinogenesis of this tissue concomitant
with loss of TGF-β receptor levels and loss of androgen dependence, implicating
a role for TGF-β as a tumor suppressor and regulator of androgen dependence.
Using primary prostatic cells lines, our laboratory was first to report that TGF-
can directly induce apoptosis of prostatic cells in culture, implicating a role
of this cytokine in apoptosis of the prostate following androgen ablation. Thus,
an important focus of our work is to understand how TGF-β induces apoptosis.
Numerous protooncogenes and transcription factors have been recently shown to regulate
TGF-β signals through a Smad-dependent pathway, many of which interact directly
with Smads and modify their biological activity and function. Along these lines
our laboratory first reported that androgens intercept TGF-β signals through
a direct association of the androgen receptor with Smad3. We have also shown that
IGF-I, which has potent tumor promoting properties on the prostate and has been
implicated in prostatic carcinogenesis in humans, is an effective inhibitor of TGF-β
signaling by selectively blocking the activation of Smad3. Thus, current projects
in this laboratory also revolve around understanding the mechanism by which androgens
and IGF-I intercept Smad3 function.
We are mainly using three spontaneously immortalized prostatic epithelial cell lines,
NRP-152, NRP-154 and DP-153, as models that represent preneoplastic cells or early
stage prostate cancer. These cell lines were derived from the preneoplastic dorsolateral
prostate of the Lobund-Wistar rat, an animal model that develops prostate cancer
with a high incidence and which closely mimic the pathophysiology of the human disease.
NRP-152, the best studied of the above cell line, is non-tumorigenic, responsive
to androgens, exquisitely responsive to TGF-βs and other growth regulators,
and has unique stem cell properties. TGF-βs can promote differentiation, arrest
growth, induce apoptosis, and act as tumor suppressors in this cell line model.
We recently showed that our newly established non-tumorigenic cell line, DP-153,
shares with NRP-152 cells the ability to undergo malignant transformation upon expression
of a dominant-negative TβRII, further supporting a role for TGF-β in tumor
suppression of this disease.
With the above in vitro and in vivo models our current and future plans involve:
1) Studying the role of PI3-kinase, Akt, Bcl-2 family members, mitochondria, endoplasmic
reticulum, and caspases in the induction of apoptosis by TGF-β; and 2) Studying
the regulation of TGF-β signaling by EGF, IGF-I, androgens, androgen receptors
and androgen receptor co-activators.
Garcia JA and Danielpour D. Mammalian target of rapamycin inhibition
as a therapeutic strategy for urologic malignancies. Mol Cancer Thera, 6:1347-54,
Yang J, Song K, Krebs TL, Jackson MW, Danielpour D. Rb/E2F4 and
Smad2/3 link survivin to TGF-b induced apoptosis and tumor progression. Oncogene,
Sep 11;27(40):5326-38, 2008. 2008.
Wang H, Song K, Yang J, Krebs TL, Danielpour D. The LIM protein
Hic-5/ARA55 controls TGF-b signaling through a direct physical interaction with
Smad7. Oncogene, Nov 20;27(54):6791-805, 2008.
Song K, Wang H, Krebs TL, Danielpour D. Androgenic Control of TGF-β
Signaling in Prostate Epithelial Cells through Transcriptional Suppression of TGF-β
Receptor II. Cancer Res.;68: 8173-82, 2008.
Yang J, Wahdan-Alaswad R., Danielpour D. Critical role of Smad2
in Tumor Suppression and TGF-b-induced apoptosis of prostate epithelial cells. Cancer
Res, 69: 2185-2190, 2009.
Song K, Wang H, Krebs TL. Wang BH, Kelley TJ and Danielpour D.
Dihydrotestosterone downregulates expression of Smad3 through a transcriptional
mechanism to protect prostate epithelial cells against TGF-β-induced apoptosis.
Molecular Endocrinology, 24:2019-2029, 2010.
Wahdan-Alaswad R, Song K, Krebs TL, Sholar DT, Gomez JA, Matsuyama S, and Danielpour
D. IGF-I Suppresses BMP Signaling in Prostate Cancer Cells by Activating
mTOR Signaling. Cancer Research 70:9106-9117, 2010.
Song, K, Krebs, TL, Danielpour, D. Novel Role of EGF in TGF-b Signaling
and Growth Suppression: Mediation by Stabilization of TGF-b Receptor type II. J.
Biol. Chem, manuscripts in press, January 2006.
Danielpour, D. and Song, K, Mechanism of Cross-talk between IGF-I
and TGF-b, Cytokine and Growth Factor Rev. 17:59-74, 2006.
Song, K, Wang, H, Krebs, TL, Danielpour, D. Novel Roles of Akt
and mTOR in suppressing TGF-beta/ALK5-mediated Smad3 activation. EMBO J, 25:58-60,
Wang, H, Song, K, Sponseller, TL, Danielpour, D. Novel Function
of Androgen Receptor-associated Protein 55/Hic-5 as a Negative Regulator of Smad3
Signaling. J. Biol. Chem., 280:5154-5162, 2005.
Danielpour, D. Functions and Regulation of TGF-b in the Prostate.
Euro J. Cancer. 41:840-557, 2005
Song, K, Cornelius, SC, Danielpour, D: Development and characterization of
DP-153: a non-tumorigenic prostate epithelial cell line that undergoes malignant
transformation by expression of dominant-negative transforming growth factor-beta
receptor type II. Cancer Res. 63: 4358-4367, 2003.
Song, K, Cornelius, SC, Reiss, M, Danielpour, D: IGF-I Inhibits Transcriptional
Responses of TGF-b by PI3-kinase/AKT-dependent Suppression of the Activation of
Smad3 but not Smad2. J. Biol. Chem. 278: 38342- 32351, 2003.
Stewart, LV, Song, K, Hsing AY, Danielpour, D. 2003. Regulation of Trespin
expression by modulators of cell growth, differentiation and apoptosis in prostatic
epithelial cells. Exp. Cell Res. 284:303-315.
Chipuk, JE, Stewart, LV, Ranieri, A, Song, K, Danielpour, D. 2002. Identification
and characterization of a novel rat ov-serpin family member, trespin. J. Biol. Chem.
Chipuk, JE, Pultz NJ, Cornelius, SC, Jorgensen, JS, Bonham, MJ, Kim SJ, and Danielpour
D. 2002. The androgen receptor represses TGF-β signaling through interaction
with Smad3. J. Biol. Chem., 277:1240-1248.
Chipuk, JE, Hsing AY, Bhat, MB, Ma, J, Danielpour, D. 2001. BCL-XL regulates
TGF-β induced apoptosis in NRP-154 rat prostatic epithelial cells. J Biol. Chem,
Tang, B., de Castro, K., Barnes, H.E., Parks, W.T., Stewart, L., Bottinger, E.P.,
Wakefield, L.M., and Danielpour, D. 1999. Loss of responsiveness to transforming
growth factor beta induces malignant transformation of nontomorigenic rat prostate
epithelial cells. Cancer Res., 59:4834-4842.
Danielpour, D. 1999. Transdifferentiation of NRP-152 rat prostatic basal
epithelial cells toward a luminal phenotype: regulation by glucocorticoid, insulin-like
growth factor-I and transforming growth factor-beta. J. Cell Sci., 112:169-179.
Hayward, S.W., Haughney, P.C., Lopez, E.S. Danielpour, D., and Cuhna, G.R.
1999. The rat prostatic epithelial cell line NRP-152 can differentiate in vivo
in response to its stromal environment. Prostate, 39:205-212.
Lucia, M.S., Sporn, M.B., Roberts, A.B., and Danielpour, D. 1998. The role
of transforming growth factor-b1, -b2
and -b3 in androgen-responsive growth of NRP-152 rat
dorsal prostatic epithelial cells. J. Cell. Physiol., 175:184-192.
Hsing, A.Y., Kadomatsu, K., Bonham, M.J., and Danielpour, D. 1996. Regulation
of apoptosis induced by TGF-b1 in non-tumorigenic and
tumorigenic rat prostatic epithelial cell lines. Cancer Res., 56:5146-5149.
Danielpour, D., 1996. Induction of transforming growth factor-β autocrine
activity by all-transretinoic acid and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 in NRP-152 rat prostatic
epithelial cells. J. Cell. Physiol., 66:2312-2319.
Danielpour, D., Kadomatsu, K., Anzano, M.A., Smith, J.M., and Sporn, M.B.
1994. Development and characterization of nontumorigenic and tumorigenic epithelial
cell lines from rat dorsal-lateral prostate. Cancer Res., 54:3413-3421.