Dermcidin expression confers a survival advantage in prostate cancer cells subjected to oxidative stress or hypoxia

Dermcidin (DCD) is a candidate survival gene in breast cancer. DCD gene expression has been identified in prostate cancer cell lines and primary prostate cancer tissue. The DCD protein is composed of proteolysis-inducing factor-core peptide (PIF-CP) and the skin antimicrobial DCD-1. The aim of this work was to: (i) establish if the DCD gene confers resistance of prostate cancer cells to hypoxia and oxidative stress; (ii) identify the component of the gene transcript responsible for this effect.

Site-directed mutagenesis was used to create mutant DCD vectors. PC-3M prostate cancer cells were stably transfected with pcDNA3.1+ vectors encoding the entire DCD cDNA, mutant DCD vectors, or a control empty vector. Oxidative stress was produced using menadione, glucose oxidase, or hydrogen peroxide. Cell hypoxia was induced by incubation at 0.2% oxygen.

Comparison of cell growth showed a 54.5% relative-proliferative advantage for the DCD-transfected PC-3M cells compared with sham-transfected cells after 8 days of cell growth (P = 0.03). Overexpression of DCD provided upto 36% absolute survival advantage over sham-transfected cells following induction of oxidative stress or hypoxia (P = 0.004). On exposure to hypoxia or oxidative stress PC-3M cells overexpressing the entire DCD gene had upto 42% survival advantage over those transfectants lacking the PIF-CP sequence (P = 0.004).

DCD and PIF-CP are proliferation and survival factors in prostate cancer cells subjected to stressors found in the prostate cancer microenvironment. Thus, DCD and specifically PIF-CP are potential targets for the treatment of prostate cancer.