Simultaneous inactivation of Par-4 and PTEN in vivo leads to synergistic NF-κB activation and invasive prostate carcinoma

Prostate cancer is one of the most common neoplasias in men. The tumor suppressor Par-4 is an important negative regulator of the canonical NF-κB pathway and is highly expressed in prostate. Here we show that Par-4 expression is lost in a high percentage of human prostate carcinomas, and this occurs in association with phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted from chromosome 10 (PTEN) loss. Par-4 null mice, similar to PTEN-heterozygous mice, only develop benign prostate lesions, but, importantly, concomitant Par-4 ablation and PTEN-heterozygosity lead to invasive prostate carcinoma in mice. This strong tumorigenic cooperation is anticipated in the preneoplastic prostate epithelium by an additive increase in Akt activation and a synergistic stimulation of NF-κB. These results establish the cooperation between Par-4 and PTEN as relevant for the development of prostate cancer and implicate the NF-κB pathway as a critical event in prostate tumorigenesis.