Oligophrenin-1 is associated with cell adhesion and migration in prostate cancer.

Objective: We performed Escherichia coli ampicillin secretion trap (CAST) analysis in prostate cancer (PCa) to identify novel biomarkers. We show here that OPHN1, which encodes oligophrenin-1 protein, is upregulated in PCa. OPHN1 was first determined to be one of the genes associated with X-linked mental retardation; however, neither the gene's function nor the link between its expression and survival of patients has been investigated.

Methods: We investigate the expression of oligophrenin-1 in 141 PCa tissue samples by immunohistochemistry and perform functional analysis using RNA interference.

Results: Immunohistochemical analysis of oligophrenin-1 demonstrated that 60 (43%) PCa cases were positive for oligophrenin-1. Positive oligophrenin-1 expression was significantly correlated with a high Gleason score (p = 0.0198). Furthermore, patients with oligophrenin-1-positive PCa had a worse biochemical recurrence-free survival rate than patients with oligophrenin-1-negative PCa (p = 0.0079). Cell adhesion to fibronectin was significantly reduced in OPHN1 small interfering (si)RNA-transfected LNCaP and PC3 cells in comparison to negative-control siRNA-transfected cells. Knockdown of OPHN1 reduced the expression of ITGA5 and stress fiber formation in LNCaP and PC3 cells.

Conclusion: These results suggest that oligophrenin-1 is involved in tumor progression in PCa.