Phosphatase of regenerating liver 3 (PRL-3) is overexpressed in human prostate cancer tissue and promotes growth and migration

BACKGROUND: PRL-3 is a phosphatase implicated in oncogenesis in multiple cancers. In some cancers, notably carcinomas, PRL-3 is also associated with inferior prognosis and increased metastatic potential. In this study we investigated the expression of PRL-3 mRNA in fresh-frozen samples from patients undergoing radical prostatectomy because of prostate cancer (PC) and the biological function of PRL-3 in prostate cancer cells. METHODS: Samples from 41 radical prostatectomy specimens (168 samples in total) divided into low (Gleason score ≤ 6), intermediate (Gleason score = 7) and high (Gleason score ≥ 8) risk were analyzed with gene expression profiling and compared to normal prostate tissue. PRL-3 was identified as a gene with differential expression between healthy and cancerous tissue in these analyses. We used the prostate cancer cell lines PC3 and DU145 and a small molecular inhibitor of PRL-3 to investigate whether PRL-3 had a functional role in cancer. Relative ATP-measurement and thymidine incorporation were used to assess the effect of PRL-3 on growth of the cancer cells. We performed an in vitro scratch assay to investigate the involvement of PRL-3 in migration. Immunohistochemistry was used to identify PRL-3 protein in prostate cancer primary tumor and corresponding lymph node metastases. RESULTS: Compared to normal prostate tissue, the prostate cancer tissue expressed a significantly higher level of PRL-3. We found PRL-3 to be present in both PC3 and DU145, and that inhibition of PRL-3 led to growth arrest and apoptosis in these two cell lines. Inhibition of PRL-3 led to reduced migration of the PC3 cells. Immunohistochemistry showed PRL-3 expression in both primary tumor and corresponding lymph node metastases. CONCLUSIONS: PRL-3 mRNA was expressed to a greater extent in prostate cancer tissue compared to normal prostate tissue. PRL-3 protein was expressed in both prostate cancer primary tumor and corresponding lymph node metastases. The results from our in vitro assays suggest that PRL-3 promotes growth and migration in prostate cancer. In conclusion, these results imply that PRL-3 has a role in the pathogenesis of prostate cancer. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12967-016-0830-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.