Endocrinology Vol. 140, No. 7 3328-3333
Copyright © 1999 by The Endocrine Society
Expression of p190A during Apoptosis in the Regressing Rat Ventral Prostate1
Colm Morrissey,
Steffany Bennett,
Esther Nitsche,
R. Sean Guenette,
Paul Wong and
Martin Tenniswood
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame (C.M.,
S.B., R.S.G., M.T.), Notre Dame, Indiana 46556; the Cell and Molecular
Biology Graduate Program, University College Dublin (C.M.), Dublin 4,
Ireland; the Institute of Neuroscience, Carleton University
(S.B.), Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1S 5B6; the Department of Pediatrics,
University of Lubeck (E.N.), D-23538 Lubeck, Germany; and
the Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta
(P.W.), Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G2E9
Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Martin Tenniswood Ph.D., Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556. E-mail:
tenniswood.1{at}nd.edu
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Abstract
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After hormonal ablation, 90% of the secretory epithelial cells of the
prostate undergo apoptosis, and the remaining cells are reorganized as
the tissue is remodeled. Using differential display RT-PCR of total RNA
extracted from the rat ventral prostate before and 4 days after
castration, we have cloned and sequenced a number of complementary DNAs
whose cognate messenger RNAs (mRNAs) may be either up- or
down-regulated during prostatic regression. One sequence of particular
interest, 25.2, is up-regulated after castration and is homologous to
p190, a protein associated with cytoskeletal reorganization. RT-PCR has
confirmed that the steady state level of p190A mRNA is increased in the
rat ventral prostate after castration, and Western blot analysis
indicates that the protein levels for p190A also increase. The steady
state level of p190B mRNA, the second isoform of p190, does not appear
to change significantly after hormone ablation. Immunohistochemical
analysis demonstrates that p190A is up-regulated primarily in the
columnar epithelial cells that actively undergo cell death after
hormone ablation. As Rho-GAP signaling had been shown to be influenced
by p190 levels, leading to the disassembly of focal adhesion contacts
and the loss of cytoskeletal architecture, we also measured the changes
in Rho-GAP during prostate regression. Rho-GAP levels do not change
significantly, suggesting that changes in stoichiometry of the
interaction between p190A and Rho-GAP may be a prerequisite for the
initiation of cytoplasmic condensation. These intracellular events
coupled with the proteolytic degradation of the extracellular matrix
appear to be integral to the apoptotic process in glandular epithelia.
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Introduction
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CELL DEATH, or apoptosis, is not a single
phenomenon, but, rather, a series of morphologically and biochemically
related processes (1, 2, 3). Cell death of lymphocytes and other cells of
reticulo-endothelial origin is dominated by changes in nuclear
morphology (4) and mitochondrial biology (5, 6), whereas apoptotic
death of glandular epithelial cells, such as those of the prostate,
also requires profound cytoplasmic changes and alterations in the
cell-cell and cell-substratum interactions (7). The rodent prostate is
a useful model for the study of apoptosis induced by hormone
withdrawal, as the secretory epithelial cells are localized in the
distal and intermediate regions of the ducts (8, 9, 10) and are critically
dependent on androgens for survival (11). Changes in the expression of
a number of genes, including clusterin (8, 10, 12, 13), and a number of
extracellular proteases, including cathepsin B (14), cathepsin D (15),
and plasminogen activators (16), have been shown to be induced during
regression of the gland. The expression and activation of these
proteases appear to result in the degradation of specific components of
the extracellular matrix (ECM), including fibronectin, collagen,
laminin, and vitronectin (13, 17). These components of the ECM interact
with their cognate receptors, most of which are members of the integrin
superfamily (18). The integrins are localized on the basal surface of
epithelial cells and ensure that the cells have the structural
underpinnings required for polarization, vectorial transport, and
secretion (19, 20). The ECM components and their respective membrane
receptors are expressed in hormone-replete animals, and their synthesis
is under tight regulation to ensure that the glandular morphology and
differentiated, secretory phenotype are maintained (17, 21, 22, 23).
We have recently used differential display RT-PCR to identify
additional genes that may be induced during apoptosis in the regressing
prostate. We report here that one sequence of particular interest,
25.2, has homology to p190 messenger RNA (mRNA). To date, two related
p190 proteins have been identified. These proteins are GAP [guanosine
triphosphatase (GTPase)-activating protein]-associated proteins that
have been implicated in the regulation of the cytoskeleton and focal
contacts through the interaction with the p120 Ras-GAP and Rho family
of small guanine nucleotide-binding proteins (24). The demonstration
that a component of the intracellular signaling network regulating
focal adhesion kinase is up-regulated during apoptotic cell death
suggests that cell-substratum interactions may be disrupted by
proteolysis and/or by inside-out signaling.
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Materials and Methods
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Animals
Male Sprague Dawley rats (250300 g) were obtained from
Taconic Farms, Inc. (Germantown, NY). Animals were
maintained in a controlled environment (12 h of light, 12 h of
darkness) and received Purina rodent chow (Ralston Purina Co., St. Louis, MO) and water ad libitum. The animals
were castrated via the scrotal route under light halothane anesthesia.
Animals were killed by cervical dislocation on different days after
castration, and the prostate glands were excised and processed
immediately or stored in liquid nitrogen.
Differential display
Total RNA was isolated from Sprague Dawley rat ventral prostates
before and 4 days after castration using RNAzol B (Biotex Laboratories, Inc., Houston, TX). Twenty-five milligrams of
total RNA were deoxyribonuclease (DNase) treated with 5 U
[ribonculease (RNase) free] DNase (Promega Corp.,
Madison, WI), 1 x DNase buffer, and 10 U RNAsin at 37 C for 30
min and reverse transcribed using the RNAmap protocol (GenHunter Corp.,
Brookline, MA) with Superscript II RNase H- (Life Technologies, Grand Island, NY) and the downstream primer
T12MC (GenHunter Corp.). The reverse transcribed product
was amplified by PCR using AP-5 (GTTGCGATCC) and T12MC
primers and 2.5 U AmpliTaq (Perkin Elmer, Branchburg, NJ)
in the presence of [
-35S]deoxy-ATP (1000 Ci/mmol;
Amersham, Arlington Heights, IL) The PCR conditions were
as follows: 30 sec at 94 C, 2 min at 40 C, and 30 sec at 72 C for 40
cycles. The reaction products were electrophoresed on 6% denaturing
polyacrylamide gels at 1500 V for 2 h, dried for 1 h at 80 C,
and exposed to x-ray film (Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.,
Tokyo, Japan) at -80 C with an intensifying screen for 48
h. Bands of interest were cut from the gel, boiled, filtered through
ultrafree MC 0.45-µm filters (Millipore Corp., Bedford,
MA), ethanol precipitated, and redissolved in H2O. The
products were reamplified by PCR using the AP-5 and T12MC
primers and the same reaction conditions as the differential display,
cloned into the pCRII vector (Invitrogen, San Diego, CA),
and sequenced.
RNase protection assays
The pCRII vector containing the gene fragment 25.2 was
linearized with BamHI and transcribed according to the
manufacturers guidelines using the MAXIscript in vitro
transcription kit (Ambion, Inc., Austin, TX) to produce a
226-bp [
-32P]UTP (3000 Ci/mmol)
(Amersham)-labeled antisense probe. The 226-bp antisense
probe was hybridized with 10 µg total RNA isolated from rat ventral
prostate from days 0, 2, and 4 after castration and RNase digested
using the RPA II kit (Ambion, Inc.). The products were
electrophoresed on 5% 7 M urea polyacrylamide gels at 200
V for 2 h. The gels were dried down at 80 C for 1 h and
exposed to X-Omat AR film (Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester,
NY) at -80 C with an intensifying screen for 24 h.
Northern analysis
A multiple tissue Northern blot of rat tissues (CLONTECH Laboratories, Inc., Palo Alto, CA) was prehybridized for 2
h in 10% dextran sulfate, 1% SDS, 6 x SSC (1 x SSC is 150
mM NaCl and 15 mM sodium citrate, pH 7.0), 1%
sheared salmon sperm DNA, and 5 x Denharts solution (100
x Denharts solution is 2% BSA, 2% polyvinyl pyrrolidone, and 2%
Ficoll) and hybridized with radiolabeled 25.2 (2 x
106 cpm/ml) for 24 h at 63 C in a hybridization oven.
After hybridization, the membrane was washed once at 63 C in 2 x
SSC for 15 min, once in 2 x SSC-0.1% SDS for 30 min, and once in
0.1 x SSC-0.1% SDS for 10 min and exposed to X-Omat AR film
(Eastman Kodak Co.) at -80 C for 16 days.
RT-PCR
Polyadenylated mRNA, prepared by oligo(deoxythymidine)-cellulose
chromatography (25), was reverse transcribed from rat ventral prostate
on days 0, 2, and 4 after castration. p190A and
glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) were amplified in a
reaction mix containing 60 mM Tris-HCl, 15 mM
(NH4)SO4, and 2 mM
MgCl2, pH 9.5; 1 mM deoxy-NTPs; 0.5 pmol p190A
reverse primer (tgcgtccataaccaatgcca); and 0.5 pmol p190A forward
primer (gcccgagagttagccaatgaaa). After 2 min at 94 C, 3 U
Taq polymerase (Life Technologies) were added,
and PCR was continued for 30 cycles of 1 min at 60 C, 1 min at 72 C,
and 30 sec at 94 C and a final cycle of 10 min at 72 C. After the first
6 cycles, 0.5 pmol GAPDH forward primer (cctctctcttgctctcagtat) and 0.5
pmol GAPDH reverse primer (gtatccgttgtggatctgaca) were added to the
reaction mix. Amplification of p190B and GAPDH used the same reaction
conditions, except the reaction was for 25 cycles, and the p190B
primers were 0.5 pmol p190B reverse primer (cagtaactgccaccagctgt) and
0.5 pmol p190B forward primer (gccatgtgtggagatccatt). The primers were
designed using Primers3 Software
(http://www.genome.wi.mit.edu/cgi-bin/primer/primer3.cgi), based on the
available sequences for rat p190A and human p190B. The gels were
photographed using UV transillumination (306 nm), and the photographs
were scanned using a ScanJet Plus scanner and HP Scanning Gallery Plus
5.0 software (Hewlett-Packard Co., Palo Alto, CA). The
scanned images were quantitated using SigmaGel (Jandel Scientific
Software, San Rafael, CA). The data were graphed using GraphPad Prism
1.0 (GraphPad Software, Inc., San Diego, CA).
Immunohistochemistry
Frozen sections (10 µm) of ventral prostates, excised at
various times after castration, were prepared on gelatin-coated slides,
fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde for 20 min, and washed three times in 10
mM PBS. The sections were incubated with the appropriate
dilution (1:300) of the primary antibody, anti-p190 Rho-GAP
(Transduction Laboratories, Inc., Lexington, KY), which is
specific for p190A (24), at 4 C overnight, washed three times in 10
mM PBS, incubated with goat antimouse fluorescein
isothiocyanate secondary antibody (1:100; Sigma Chemical Co., St. Louis, MO) at 37 C for 30 min, washed three times in 10
mM PBS, and coverslipped with mounting medium (Vector Laboratories, Inc., Burlingame, CA). Sections were examined and
photographed under indirect fluorescence using a Nikon
Optiphot-2 microscope (Nikon, Melville, NY). Control
slides, omitting the primary or the secondary antibody, were run in
parallel.
Western immunoblotting
Protein lysates from ventral prostate tissue were isolated using
Trizol reagent (Molecular Research Center, Inc.,
Cincinnati, OH). Protein concentrations were determined using the
bicinchoninic acid assay (Pierce Chemical Co., Rockford,
IL). Two hundred milligrams of protein were resolved on 7.5% SDS-PAGE
gels and transferred to 0.2-µm supported nitrocellulose membranes
(Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., Richmond, CA). Nonspecific
binding was eliminated by preincubation in 1% heat-denatured casein
for 1 h. The membranes were incubated in the appropriate dilution
of the primary antibody [anti-p190 Rho-GAP, 1:500 (Transduction Laboratories, Inc.), or anti-p120 Ras-Gap, 1:1000 (Upstate Biotechnology, Inc., Lake Placid, NY)], followed by horseradish
peroxidase-conjugated goat antimouse secondary antibody (1:3000;
Caltag Laboratories, Inc., San Francisco, CA), developed
using an enhanced chemiluminescent kit (Amersham), and
exposed to X-Omat AR film (Eastman Kodak Co.) at room
temperature.
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Results
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To examine gene regulation during the apoptotic processes in the
rat ventral prostate after hormone ablation, we performed differential
display on rat ventral prostate total RNA in control animals and
animals 4 days after castration. A number of sequences were present in
the day 4 lane but not in the day 0 lane of the differential display
(data not shown). These sequences probably represent mRNA sequences
that are up-regulated during the apoptotic process. One of these
sequences, designated 25.2, has 96% homology to mouse p190B at the
nucleic acid level in the region homologous to a portion of the
glucocorticoid receptor repression factor-1 (GRF-1)-like domain (Fig. 1
). Homology to rat p190A, the second
member of the p190 family, was significantly lower (
64%).

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Figure 1. Sequence homology of 25.2 and mouse p190B and rat
p190A. A, 25.2 has 96% homology with mouse p190B and 64% homology
with rat p190A at the nucleic acid level. B, p190A contains several
domains homologous to GTPase domains: GRF-1, Rho-GAP, and
GTPase-activating domain. The region of homology to 25.2 is shown
above the domain map (adapted from Ref. 26).
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RNase protection assays using the 226-bp 25.2 complementary DNA (cDNA)
fragment isolated and cloned from the differential display and total
RNA extracted from the rat ventral prostate on days 0, 2, and 4 after
castration showed an increase in the expression of sequences protected
by 25.2 on both days 2 and 4 after castration, the days on which the
epithelial cells in the ventral prostate undergo apoptosis and the
surviving tissue is remodeled (Fig. 2
).

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Figure 2. RNase protection assay of 25.2. Rats were
castrated, and tissues were excised on days 0, 2, and 4 after
castration. RNase protection assays using the 226-bp cDNA corresponding
to 25.2 were performed as described in Materials and
Methods. The probe hybridizes to mRNA extracted from the
prostate in control animals and from animals 2 and 4 days after
castration and protects a 220-bp fragment.
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As neither RT-PCR nor S1-nuclease analysis provides
information regarding the size of the full-length mRNA, we used
Northern analysis to demonstrate that 25.2 hybridizes to a RNA
transcript of the appropriate size. Northern analysis using the 25.2
gene fragment on a multiple tissue blot demonstrated that 25.2
hybridizes to a mRNA of 8.3 kb. This mRNA was present at significant
levels in heart, brain, skeletal muscle, and testis and at lower levels
in spleen, lung, liver, and kidney (Fig. 3
). The size of this mRNA corresponds to
that published for p190A (26). However, the probe also hybridizes to
7.6- and 6.4-kb mRNA in heart, brain, and testis and to a 4.4-kb mRNA
in kidney and testis. The 6.4-kb band probably corresponds to p190B
mRNA (24), suggesting that the 25.2 cDNA hybridizes to both p190A and
p190B. The identities of the 7.6- and 4.4-kb mRNAs and their
relationship to the p190 family have not been further investigated.

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Figure 3. Tissue distribution of cognate mRNAs hybridizing
to 25.2 in the Sprague Dawley rat. A commercially available Northern
blot was hybridized with radiolabeled 25.2 (2 x 106
cpm/ml), washed, and autoradiographed as described in Materials
and Methods. An 8.3-kb mRNA is abundantly expressed in heart,
brain, skeletal muscle, and testis and is present at lower levels in
spleen, lung, liver, and kidney. In addition, mRNA species of 7.6 and
6.4 kb are seen in heart, brain, and testis, and 4.4-kb mRNA is also
expressed in kidney and testis.
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RT-PCR analysis demonstrated that the steady state level of p190A mRNA
increased in the rat ventral prostate after hormone ablation when
standardized against GAPDH levels (Fig. 4A
). In the same samples, the steady
state level of p190B mRNA remained relatively constant throughout the
time course (Fig. 4B
).

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Figure 4. Steady state levels of p190A and p190B mRNA in the
rat ventral prostate after castration. RT-PCR was performed using
primers specific for p190A (A) and p190B (B), using GAPDH as an
internal control as described in Materials and Methods.
mRNA extracted from the rat ventral prostate after castration was used
as template. p190A and GAPDH, and p190B and GAPDH were amplified in the
same reactions. p190A primers produce a band of 408 bp; p190B primers
produce a band of 306 bp; GAPDH primers produce a band of 341 bp. The
ratios of p190A/GAPDH and p190B/GAPDH were determined after scanning
densitometry of negatives, as described in Materials and
Methods. Representative results from one of three independent
experiments are shown.
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Western analysis demonstrated that p190A was expressed in the prostate
of hormone-replete animals and that the steady state level of the p190A
protein increased approximately 20-fold in the ventral prostate during
regression (Fig. 5A
). In contrast, the
modest 2-fold increase in the steady state level of p120 RasGAP was
probably not significant (Fig. 5B
). Regardless of whether the increase
in p120 RasGAP was significant, it is clear that the relative level of
p190 to p120 RasGAP increased between 10- and 20-fold.
Immunohistochemical analysis showed that the p190A protein was
expressed in normal prostatic tissue, primarily in the tall columnar
epithelial cells (Fig. 6A
). During
regression, levels of the protein increased in the tall columnar
epithelial cells. Higher magnification suggests that the localization
of the protein also changed. In the ventral prostate of intact rats,
the protein appeared to be diffusely localized throughout the cytoplasm
(Fig. 6A
, inset). After castration, the level of cytoplasmic
staining clearly increased by day 2, and by day 4 after castration, the
protein appeared to be more predominantly localized to the lumenal
aspect of the cell, particularly in the perinuclear region, possibly
associated with cytoskeletal processes (Fig. 6C
, inset).
There was also a significant increase in the immunofluorescence in the
stromal compartment starting on day 2 after castration (Fig. 6B
). By
day 4 after castration, most of the cells in the stroma appeared to
express significant levels of p190A (Fig. 6C
).

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Figure 5. Protein expression of p190A in the rat ventral
prostate after castration. Western analysis of p190A (A) and p120
Ras-GAP (B) in the rat ventral prostate after castration. Protein was
extracted and separated by gel electrophoresis, transferred to
nitrocellulose membranes, and localized by enhanced chemiluminescence
as described in Materials and Methods.
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Figure 6. Immunohistochemical localization of p190A in the
ventral prostate after hormonal ablation. Rat ventral prostates were
excised frozen in isopentane, sectioned at 10 mm, and stained for p190A
as described in Materials and Methods. All sections were
processed and photographed under identical conditions. A, Ventral
prostrate excised from intact rats. B, Ventral prostate excised from
rats castrated 2 days previously. C, Ventral prostate excised from rats
castrated 4 days previously. Bar, 30 mm.
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Discussion
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Using differential display RT-PCR we have identified a sequence
that is up-regulated in the rat ventral prostate after castration. This
sequence displays a high degree of homology to p190, a protein that has
been implicated in cytoskeletal reorganization (25, 26). The data
demonstrate that the levels of both p190A mRNA and protein increase
primarily in the epithelial cells of the rat ventral prostate. During
the apoptotic process these cells lose their cytoskeletal structure and
shape, as they become more rounded and refractile.
Two members of the p190 family have been described to date (24, 26).
p190A mRNA is a ubiquitous mRNA, approximately 8.3 kb in size, which
has significant sequence homology to GRF-1, a 95-kDa protein that is a
transcriptional repressor of the glucocorticoid receptor gene (27).
p190B appears to be encoded by a transcript of 6.4 kb, and the gene
product has 51% amino acid homology to p190A (24). A second transcript
of 4.4 kb hybridizes to p190A cDNA, but appears to be too small to
encode the mature protein (24). As 25.2 hybridizes to the appropriate
size mRNA species previously described for p190 and has significant
sequence homologies to both p190A and p190B, these data suggest that
25.2 encodes one or both of the p190 isoforms. It is important to note
in this context that the expression of p190 mRNA in other tissues does
not necessarily correlate to the relative sensitivity to apoptosis of
these tissues, as it is likely that it is the change in the level of
the gene product relative to those of the other molecules required for
cytoskeletal stability or the posttranslational modification of the
protein that modulate the effects of p190.
The amino-terminal of p190A has sequence similarity to members of the
GTPase superfamily, whereas the carboxyl-terminal shows significant
homology to RhoGAP, the breakpoint cluster region gene product (24, 28), and n-chimerin, both of which possess intrinsic GAP
activity for small GTPases (29). The amino-terminal portion of
p190B contains several motifs characteristic of a GTPase domain, binds
GTP and GDP (24, 28), and promotes GTP hydrolysis (28), whereas its
carboxyl-terminal also contains a Rho-GAP domain (24). In
vitro both p190 A and B have been shown to possess GAP activity
and a preference for the Rho and Rac families as substrates (29, 30).
p190 also interacts with p120 Ras-GAP (24).
SH2-phosphotyrosine interactions regulate Ras-GAP-p190
association through the amino- and carboxyl-terminal SH2 domains of
Ras-GAP that synergistically bind phosphorylated p190, mediating
complex formation (31). The formation of a complex between Ras-GAP and
p190 may couple signaling pathways that involve Ras and Rho GTPases
(29, 32). It has been shown that the stimulation of Swiss 3T3
fibroblasts in culture with lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) leads to the
rapid formation of stress fibers, a process dependent on Rho proteins
and p125FAK phosphorylation (30, 33, 34, 35). Furthermore,
incubation with C3 exoenzyme, which inactivates Rho proteins, inhibits
LPA-induced p125FAK phosphorylation (35). p190 inhibits
LPA-stimulated stress fiber formation as a consequence of
down-regulating Rho proteins that regulate the actin cytoskeleton (33, 36). Microinjection of p190 GAP into Swiss 3T3 cells causes the cells
to become more rounded and refractile and to lose actin stress fibers
(33, 36). This suggests a link among p190, Rho, pp125FAK,
and cell adhesion (24, 32, 35, 37).
At first glance, it might be expected that the increased levels of p190
would be preferentially localized to the membrane, rather than the
perinuclear and cytoplasmic localization shown in Fig. 6
. The
localization of p190A to the membrane is probably dependent on several
additional factors, and the increase in perinuclear staining (as
opposed to the membrane staining) may be due to the concomitant
loss of membrane-associated binding partners, such as p120RasGAP or
p125FAK, to changes in their phosphorylation state, or to
changes in the phosphorylation state of p190A itself. It is also
possible that the increased expression of p190A results in
disequilibrium in the binding stoichiometry either at the focal
adhesion sites, resulting in the formation of cytoplasmic complexes
that no longer maintain an active focal adhesion, or possibly with p120
Ras GAP, which might, in turn, disrupt the normal phosphorylation of
p125FAK needed to maintain the adhesion plaque.
This implies that the induction of p190A during the apoptotic process,
either complexed with p120 Ras-GAP or independently, may be involved in
the dissolution of the cytoskeletal architecture of the columnar
epithelial cells. Increased p190A GAP activity could lead to
inactivation of the Rho GTPases, leading to the dephosphorylation of
pp125FAK, causing the cell to round up, culminating in the
cytoplasmic condensation phase of apoptosis. Thus, the increase in
cellular content of p190A, although clearly correlated to apoptosis in
the prostate, may not be sufficient to induce apoptosis unless other
protein-protein interactions are also disrupted. Whether the increased
cellular content of p190A and its perinuclear relocalization can
initiate the apoptosis or merely represent the later stages of the
process remains to be determined. However, the induction of p190A and
its effect on the cellular architecture coupled with the degradation of
the extracellular proteases provide the necessary reduction in
cell-substratum interactions to ensure that the dying cells are able to
effectively undergo the cytoplasmic condensation that is essential for
completion of apoptosis. It should be kept in mind, however, that the
level of p190A expression also appears to increase in the stromal
compartment, albeit to a lesser extent. It, therefore, remains
possibile that the induction of p190A in both compartments may be
related more to the remodeling of the tissue during regression than to
the apoptotic process itself.
Finally, it should be noted that even though we have established that
p190A levels in the ventral prostate increase after hormone ablation,
whereas p190B levels do not change substantially, this does not
preclude the possibility that the increase in the intensity of the 25.2
band detected by differential display and RNase protection is due at
least in part to a third mRNA that contains the same conserved domain.
We are currently exploring this possibility.
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Acknowledgments
|
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The authors acknowledge the assistance of Marina La Duke and
Alice Vera with photographic work, and that of Carol Spierto and Tracy
Donaldson with animal husbandry. We thank Zhengqi Wang, Johnathon
Lakins, and Dan Taillefer for useful discussions.
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Footnotes
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1 This work is supported in part by USPHS Grant CA-692331 (to M.T.),
the Alzheimers Society of Canada (to S.B.), and the German Research
Foundation (Deutsche Forchungsgemeinschaft; to E.N.). 
Received November 3, 1998.
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