Androgen-regulated transcription of ESRP2 drives alternative splicing patterns in prostate cancer

  1. Jennifer Munkley  Is a corresponding author
  2. Ling Li
  3. S R Gokul Krishnan
  4. Gerald Hysenaj
  5. Emma Scott
  6. Caroline Dalgliesh
  7. Htoo Zarni Oo
  8. Teresa Mendes Maia
  9. Kathleen Cheung
  10. Ingrid Ehrmann
  11. Karen E Livermore
  12. Hanna Zielinska
  13. Oliver Thompson
  14. Bridget Knight
  15. Paul McCullagh
  16. John McGrath
  17. Malcolm Crundwell
  18. Lorna W Harries
  19. Mads Daugaard
  20. Simon Cockell
  21. Nuno L Barbosa-Morais  Is a corresponding author
  22. Sebastian Oltean  Is a corresponding author
  23. David J Elliott  Is a corresponding author
  1. University of Newcastle, United Kingdom
  2. University of Exeter, United Kingdom
  3. University of British Columbia, Canada
  4. Vancouver Prostate Centre, Canada
  5. Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
  6. VIB, Belgium
  7. Ghent University, Belgium
  8. Newcastle University, United Kingdom
  9. Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom
7 figures, 1 table and 1 additional file

Figures

Figure 1 with 1 supplement
ESRP2 is a direct target for AR regulation in prostate cancer cells.

(A) Analysis of RNAseq data from human prostate cancer pre- and post- androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) (Chen et al., 2018; Rajan et al., 2014) shows that there is a significant downregulation of …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.47678.003
Figure 1—figure supplement 1
Confirmation of the specificity of antibodies against ESRP1 and ESRP2.

(A) Detection of ESRP1 and ESRP2 proteins in PC3 cells by Western blot. Note that both specific antibodies are able to detect the endogenous protein and the specific over-expressed protein, but they …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.47678.004
Figure 2 with 2 supplements
ESRP2 and its paralog ESRP1 are highly expressed in primary prostate tumours.

(A) Real-time PCR analysis of ESRP1 and ESRP2 mRNA from patients with benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) and 17 malignant samples from transurothelial resection of the prostate (TURP) samples. (B) …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.47678.005
Figure 2—source data 1

Meta-analysis of 719 clinical prostate cancer tumours from 11 previously published studies detected significant up-regulation of both ESRP1 and ESRP2 in 9/11 datasets.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.47678.008
Figure 2—figure supplement 1
E-Cadherin levels are not significantly increased within primary prostate tumours.

(A) Real-time PCR analysis of E-Cadherin mRNA from patients with benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) and 17 malignant samples from transurothelial resection of the prostate (TURP) samples. (B) …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.47678.006
Figure 2—figure supplement 2
Ectopic expression of ESRP1 and ESRP2 protein expression in AR negative cells.

(A) PC3 and (B) DU145 cell line models reduced prostate cancer cell growth in vitro. Data were analysed by Two-way ANOVA, and the p value is for the overall difference between two groups.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.47678.007
Identification of endogenous ESRP1/ESRP2 regulated target exons in prostate cancer.

Heat map showing mean PSI levels for a panel of ESRP-regulated exons in prostate cancer cell lines (CWR22RV1, PNT2, LNCaP and PC3). Mean PSIs were calculated for ESRP-regulated isoforms between …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.47678.009
Figure 3—source data 1

Alternative splicing events identified by Suppa2 (Trincado et al., 2018).

446 ESRP regulated alternative splicing events were identified across 319 genes (ΔPSI > 10%, p<0.05).

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.47678.010
Figure 3—source data 2

Details of 44 experimentally validated ESRP1/ESRP2 target exons identified within prostate cancer cell lines.

Gene names (column A) are shown next to PSI levels detected under different experimental conditions (columns B-P). In columns B-P red cell shading indicates increased exon inclusion; blue shading indicates decreased exon splicing; the white cells labelled NA indicate these conditions were not analysed; and the white cells labelled 0 indicate no change in splicing was detected. Patterns of splicing in the PRAD dataset (Saraiva-Agostinho and Barbosa-Morais, 2019) between tumour as compared to normal tissue (Tumour versus normal, column Q); whether there was any correlation in the PRAD dataset (Saraiva-Agostinho and Barbosa-Morais, 2019) between splicing inclusion or exclusion of the exon with time to biochemical recurrence of the tumour (column R); the p value associated with the pattern of splicing shown in column Q (T-test p-value (BH adjusted), column S); and the difference from the median pattern of inclusion (Δ median PSI, column T) or expression in normal versus prostate tumour tissue in the PRAD cohort (Saraiva-Agostinho and Barbosa-Morais, 2019); the coordinates of the alternative event on hg38 (Alternative event 1 (HG38), column U) and hg19 (Alternative event 1 (HG19), column V); and the forward (column W) and reverse (column X) primers used to detect the alternative event using RT-PCR.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.47678.011
An androgen steroid hormone-ESRP2 axis controls alternative splicing in prostate cancer cells.

(A) ESRP2-regulated exons are frequently also controlled by androgens in prostate cancer cells. 31/48 of the ESRP target exons (identified by RNAseq analysis of LNCaP cells depleted of ESRP1 and …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.47678.012
Figure 5 with 2 supplements
Alternative splicing patterns controlled by the androgen steroid hormone-ESRP2 splicing axis are clinically relevant for disease progression.

(A) Graphical representation of levels of average PSI levels in response to ectopic ESRP2 expression in PC3 cells (Y axis) versus after ESRP1/ESRP2 depletion in LNCaP cells. Individual PSI values to …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.47678.013
Figure 5—source data 1

Properties of ESRP-regulated exons that correlate with a decreased time to biochemical recurrence.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.47678.016
Figure 5—source data 2

Properties of ESRP-regulated exons that correlate with an increased time to biochemical recurrence.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.47678.017
Figure 5—source data 3

Properties of ESRP-regulated exons that show no significant correlation with time to biochemical recurrence.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.47678.018
Figure 5—figure supplement 1
Kaplan-Meier plot showing data from TCGA PRAD cohort of percentage of tumours that are free of biochemical recurrence versus time in years associated with expressing ESRP2-regulated alternative splice isoforms.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.47678.014
Figure 5—figure supplement 2
Violin plot showing PSI levels for (A) NUMB exon 6, (B) ITGA6 exon 25 (C) RAC1 exon 3A, (D) RPS24 exon 6, and (E) MYO1B exon 23, and (F) FLNB exon 31 in different grade prostate tumours.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.47678.015
Figure 6 with 2 supplements
Pharmacological inhibition of AR function switches ESRP2-dependent splicing patterns.

(A) ESRP2 mRNA expression in cells grown in steroid deplete (SD) conditions, and after addition of androgens (A+) (quantified by real-time PCR from three biological replicates). Androgen-mediated …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.47678.019
Figure 6—figure supplement 1
siRNA depletion of the AR switches splicing of ESRP2- regulated exons.

(A) Western blot showing levels of the AR, ESRP2 and actin in samples of LNCaP cells following growth in steroid deplete media (SD), or plus androgens for 48 hr (A+). Cells were transfected with …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.47678.020
Figure 6—figure supplement 2
siRNA depletion of ESRP2 alone is sufficient to switch splicing patterns of ESRP-regulated exons.

(A–C) Capillary gel electrophoretograms showing RT-PCR analysis of 3 biological replicate RNA samples, measuring splicing inclusion levels for MAP3K7 exon 12; an ESRP2 regulated exons between exons …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.47678.021
Model describing how exposure to androgens regulates splicing patterns in prostate cancer cells.

Androgen exposure leads to transcription of the gene encoding the master splicing regulator protein ESRP2. This promotes epithelial splicing patterns within prostate cancer cells. Lower levels of …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.47678.022

Tables

Key resources table
Reagent type
(species) or
resource
DesignationSource or referenceIdentifiersAdditional
information
Gene (H. sapiens)ESRP1
Gene (H. sapiens)ESRP2
Cell line (H. sapiens)LNCaPATCCCRL-1740
Cell line (H. sapiens)PC3ATCCCRL-1435
Cell line (H. sapiens)CWR-RV1ATCCCRL-2505
Cell line (H. sapiens)PNT2Sigma Aldrich95012613
Cell line (H. sapiens)RWPE-1ATCCCRL-11609
AntibodyRabbit polyclonal anti-ESRP2GenetexGTX1236651:1000 dilution
AntibodyRabbit polyclonal anti-ESRP1Sigma,HPA0237191:1000 dilution
AntibodyMouse monoclonal anti-ARBD Bioscience,5542261:10000 dilution
Antibodyanti-actin rabbit polyclonal antibodySigmaA26681:2000 dilution
Antibodyanti-FLAG mouse monoclonal antibodySigmaF31651:2000 dilution
Antibodynormal rabbit IgGJackson labs711-035-1521:2000 dilution
Antibodynormal mouse IgGJackson labs715-036-1501:2000 dilution
Recombinant DNA reagentESRP1 plasmidGift from Prof Russ Carstens (University of Philadelphia. USA)PIBX-C-FF-B-ESRP1
Recombinant DNA reagentESRP2 plasmidGift from Dr Keith Brown (University of Bristol. UK)pBIGi hESRP2-FLAG
Sequence based reagentPrimers to detect splice isoformsThis paperdesigned using Primer3 http://primer3.ut.ee/
Sequence based reagentqPCR primersThis paperdesigned using Primer3 http://primer3.ut.ee/
Sequence based reagentsiRNAshs.Ri.ESRP1.13.1, hs.Ri.ESRP1.13.2, hs.Ri.ESRP2.13.1, hs.Ri.ESRP2.13.2, IDT (51-01-14-04),
AR esiRNA EHU025951
Control esiRNA EHUEGFP Sigma
Commercialassay or kitRnaeasy plus kitQiagencatalog number 74134
Commercialassay or kitDNA freeAmbioncatalog number AM1906
Software, algorithmGraphpad prismhttps://graphpad.com
Chemical compound, drugsynthetic androgen analogue methyltrienolone (R1881)Perkin–ElmerNLP005005MG10 nM
Chemical compound, drugBicalutamide (Casodex)SigmaB906110 μM

Additional files

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