PRDM16 is associated with evasion of apoptosis by prostatic cancer cells according to RNA interference screening

Histone methylation, which is regulated by histone methyltransferases (HMTs) and histone demethylases (HDMs), has been indicated to be involved in a variety of diseases, particularly in cancer, including androgen‑independent prostate cancer (PCa). However, the functions of HMTs and HDTs in cancer have largely remained elusive. The present study, utilized an RNA interference screening using a lentiviral small hairpin (sh)RNA library to systematically elucidate the function of HMTs and HDTs in PCa cell growth and viability. Nine HMTs and HDTs, namely FBXO11, PRDM10, JMJD8, MLL, SETD4, JMJD7, PRMT2, MEN1 and PRDM16, were identified to affect DU145 cell viability, as indicated by an MTS assay subsequent to knockdown of the specific genes using shRNA pools. Furthermore, flow cytometric analysis and western blot analysis of apoptosis‑associated proteins indicated that PRDM16 has an anti‑apoptotic role in PCa cells. In addition, the spliced form, sPRDM16/MEL1S, was detected to be overexpressed in PCa cell lines. In conclusion, the present study indicated an important oncogenic role of sPRDM16/MEL1S in PCa and suggested that PRDM16 may represent a novel therapeutic target.