Expression analysis of thirty one Y chromosome genes in human prostate cancer

Rapid advances in positional cloning studies have identified most of the genes on the human Y chromosome, thereby providing resources for studying the expression of its genes in prostate cancer. Using a semiquantitative reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT–PCR) procedure, we had examined the expression of the Y chromosome genes in a panel of prostate samples diagnosed with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), low and/or high grade carcinoma, and the prostatic cell line, LNCaP, stimulated by androgen treatment. Results from this expression analysis of 31 of the 33 genes, isolated so far from the Y chromosome, revealed three types of expression patterns: i) specific expression in other tissues (e.g., AMELY, BPY1, BPY2, CDY, and RBM); ii) ubiquitous expression among prostate and control testis samples, similar to those of house‐keeping genes (e.g., ANT3, XE7,ASMTL, IL3RA, SYBL1, TRAMP, MIC2, DBY, RPS4Y, and SMCY); iii) differential expression in prostate and testis samples. The last group includes X‐Y homologous (e.g., ZFY, PRKY, DFFRY, TB4Y, EIF1AY, and UTY) and Y‐specific genes (e.g., SRY, TSPY, PRY, and XKRY). Androgen stimulation of the LNCaP cells resulted in up‐regulation of PGPL, CSFR2A, IL3RA, TSPY, and IL9R and down regulation of SRY, ZFY, and DFFRY. The heterogeneous and differential expression patterns of the Y chromosome genes raise the possibility that some of these genes are either involved in or are affected by the oncogenic processes of the prostate. The up‐ and down‐regulation of several Y chromosome genes by androgen suggest that they may play a role(s) in the hormonally stimulated proliferation of the responsive LNCaP cells. Mol. Carcinog. 27:308–321, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.