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Updated: Jun 27, 2025
An Orthotopic Murine Model of Human Prostate Cancer Metastasis
Published on: September 18, 2013
The expression of PKM1 and PKM2 in developing, benign, and cancerous prostatic tissues
Lin Li1,2, Siyuan Cheng1,2, Yunshin Yeh3
1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, LSU Health Sciences Center at Shreveport, Shreveport, LA, United States.
Background:
Neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPCa) is the most aggressive type of prostate cancer (PCa). However, energy metabolism, one of the hallmarks of cancer, in NEPCa has not been well studied. Pyruvate kinase M (PKM), which catalyzes the final step of glycolysis, has two main splicing isoforms, PKM1 and PKM2. The expression pattern of PKM1 and PKM2 in NEPCa remains unknown.
Methods:
In this study, we used immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence staining, and bioinformatics analysis to examine the expression of PKM1 and PKM2 in mouse and human prostatic tissues.
Results:
We found that PKM2 was the predominant isoform expressed throughout prostate development and PCa progression, with slightly reduced expression in murine NEPCa. PKM1 was mostly expressed in stromal cells but low-level PKM1 was also detected in prostate basal epithelial cells. Its expression was absent in the majority of prostate adenocarcinoma (AdPCa) specimens but present in a subset of NEPCa. Additionally, we evaluated the mRNA levels of ten PKM isoforms that express exon 9 (PKM1-like) or exon 10 (PKM2-like). Some of these isoforms showed notable expression levels in PCa cell lines and human PCa specimens.
Discussion:
Our study characterized the expression pattern of PKM1 and PKM2 in prostatic tissues including developing, benign, and cancerous prostate. These findings lay the groundwork for understanding the metabolic changes in different PCa subtypes.
