Dihydrotestosterone and bicalutamide do not affect periostin expression in androgen-dependent LNCaP prostate cancer cell lines.

To investigate periostin (POSTN) expression in the LNCaP cell line. Our LNCaP strain did not constitutively express the POSTN gene. Through cell transfection with a cloning vector, we developed an LNCaP cell line that stably expressed POSTN. LNCaP wild-type and transfected cells were incubated with dihydrotestosterone (DHT) in the presence/or absence of bicalutamide (BIC). POSTN mRNA was detected by quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and growth was measured with the MTT assay. POSTN transfection stimulated LNCaP cell growth. While POSTN transfection did not interfere with the stimulatory effect of DHT, BIC had an inhibitory effect on cell proliferation. However, exposure to either DHT and/or BIC was not able to interfere with POSTN expression per se. We confirmed the role of POSTN in promoting cancer cell growth. Although POSTN transcription is not likely to be androgen-dependent, the fact that increased cell proliferation POSTN-mediated was impaired by BIC suggests an androgen modulation of POSTN interaction proteins.