Figure 1.

Down-regulation of SFMBT2 up-regulates the expression of chemokine genes in prostate cancer. (A) Increased expression of chemokines in LNCaP cells stably transfected with SFMBT2 shRNA. Culture media (CM) from LNCaP cells stably transfected with control (shCont) or SFMBT2 shRNA (shSFMBT2) were incubated with cytokine antibody array membrane. (B) Increased expression of CXCL8, CCL2, CXCL10, and CCL20 genes in LNCaP cells stably transfected with SFMBT2 shRNA. RNA was analyzed in LNCaP cells stably transfected with control or SFMBT2 shRNA. (C) Increased expression of CXCL8, CCL2, CXCL10, and CCL20 in prostate cancer induced by intraprostatic injection of LNCaP cells stably transfected with SFMBT2 shRNA. LNCaP cells (1 × 10⁶ cells) transfected stably with control or SFMBT2 shRNA were injected into the prostate (dorsal lobe) of nude mice (n = 3/group). At week 5 post-injection, the prostate was harvested, fixed, sectioned, and immunostained with anti-CXCL8, anti-CCL2, anti-CXCL10, and anti-CCL20 antibodies. Representative images are shown. Nuclei were identified using DAPI staining. Scale bar, 25 μm. Expression was quantified using the ImageJ program. (D) Increased expression of CXCL8, CCL2, CXCL10, and CCL20 in prostate cancer tissues of patients. Immunohistochemical staining of a tissue array from prostate cancer patients was performed using anti-CXCL8, anti-CCL2, anti-CXCL10, and anti-CCL20 antibodies. Representative images are shown. Nuclei were identified using DAPI staining. Scale bar, 25 μm. Expression was quantified using the ImageJ program. (E) Proportional relationship of Gleason scores (GS) with the expression level of CXCL8, CCL2, CXCL10, and CCL20 in prostate cancer tissues of patients. (F) Inverse relationship of SFMBT2 expression with the expression level of CXCL8, CCL2, CXCL10, and CCL20 in prostate cancer tissues of patients. All data represent mean ± S.E.M. Significance values were ** p ≤ 0.01 and *** p ≤ 0.005.