A role for GATA-2 in transition to an aggressive phenotype in prostate cancer through modulation of key androgen-regulated genes

GATA-2, a member of the GATA family of transcription factors, is involved in androgen receptor (AR) signaling, however, little is known regarding its role in prostate cancer. Here, we report that GATA-2 is expressed in a substantial proportion of prostate cancers and that high expression of GATA-2 is associated with biochemical recurrence and distant metastatic progression in a validation set of 203 cancers. In vitro data show that GATA-2 is directly recruited to the promoter region of the AR upon androgen stimulation of LNCaP prostate cancer cells with 5α-dihydroxytestosterone (DHT) for 24 h. Ectopic GATA-2 expression causes the induction of AR transcript levels under androgen-depleted conditions ( P