Reciprocal positive regulation between TRPV6 and NUMB in PTEN-deficient prostate cancer cells

Calcium acts as a second messenger and plays a crucial role in signaling pathways involved in cell proliferation. Recently, calcium channels related to calcium influx into the cytosol of epithelial cells have attracted attention as a cancer therapy target. Of these calcium channels, TRPV6 is overexpressed in prostate cancer and is considered an important molecule in the process of metastasis. However, its exact role and mechanism is unclear. NUMB, well-known tumor suppressor gene, is a novel interacting partner of TRPV6. We show that NUMB and TRPV6 have a reciprocal positive regulatory relationship in PC-3 cells. We repeated this experiment in two other prostate cancer cell lines, DU145 and LNCaP. Interestingly, there were no significant changes in TRPV6 expression following NUMB knockdown in DU145. We revealed that the presence or absence of PTEN was the cause of NUMB-TRPV6 function. Loss of PTEN caused a positive correlation of TRPV6-NUMB expression. Collectively, we determined that PTEN is a novel interacting partner of TRPV6 and NUMB. These results demonstrated a novel relationship of NUMB-TRPV6 in prostate cancer cells, and show that PTEN is a novel regulator of this complex.