Proteotranscriptomic Measurements of E6-Associated Protein (E6AP) Targets in DU145 Prostate Cancer Cells

Prostate cancer is a common cause of cancer-related death in men. E6AP (E6-Associated Protein), an E3 ubiquitin ligase and a transcription cofactor, is elevated in a subset of prostate cancer patients. Genetic manipulations of E6AP in prostate cancer cells expose a role of E6AP in promoting growth and survival of prostate cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. However, the effect of E6AP on prostate cancer cells is broad and it cannot be explained fully by previously identified tumor suppressor targets of E6AP, promyelocytic leukemia protein and p27. To explore additional players that are regulated downstream of E6AP, we combined a transcriptomic and proteomic approach. We identified and quantified 16,130 transcripts and 7,209 proteins in castration resistant prostate cancer cell line, DU145. A total of 2,763 transcripts and 308 proteins were significantly altered on knockdown of E6AP. Pathway analyses supported the known phenotypic effects of E6AP knockdown in prostate cancer cells and in parallel exposed novel potential links of E6AP with cancer metabolism, DNA damage repair and immune response. Changes in expression of the top candidates were confirmed using real-time polymerase chain reaction. Of these, clusterin, a stress-induced chaperone protein, commonly deregulated in prostate cancer, was pursued further. Knockdown of E6AP resulted in increased clusterin transcript and protein levels in vitro and in vivo. Concomitant knockdown of E6AP and clusterin supported the contribution of clusterin to the phenotype induced by E6AP. Overall, results from this study provide insight into the potential biological pathways controlled by E6AP in prostate cancer cells and identifies clusterin as a novel target of E6AP.