Androgen receptor (AR) promotes male bladder cancer cell proliferation and migration via regulating CD24 and VEGF

Increasing evidence has proved the pivotal roles of androgen receptor in various diseases, including prostate cancer and bladder cancer. The CD24 has been proved to be correlated to bladder cancer metastasis and tumorigenesis in recent study. This study was aimed to investigate the roles of AR in bladder cell proliferation and metastasis and to explore its potential mechanism. Expressions of AR in two kinds of bladder tumor cells (T24 and UM-UC-3) were analyzed using the CRISPR Activation Plasmid transfection or siRNA-mediated gene. The effects of AR on tumor cell proliferation and migration were also analyzed. Moreover, the effects of CD24 and influence of AR on cell proliferation and metastasis-related protein were also analyzed. The results showed that AR was significantly down-regulated in T24 cells but was significantly overexpressed in UM-UC-3 cells. The up-regulated T24 promotes cell proliferation, but this enhance effect was blocked by silencing CD24. Additionally, the AR overexpression significantly increased the VEGF and CD24 expression. Besides, the migrated bladder cells was increased by the up-regulated AR, but was decreased by silencing CD24 or silencing VEGF. Taken together, our study suggested that the up-regulated AR enhances the male bladder tumor cell proliferation and metastasis via modulating the CD24 and VEGF. This study may provide theoretical basis for the possibility of AR to be a therapeutic target for bladder cancer.