PC3 (PC-3) is a human

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...

cell line An immortalised cell line is a population of cells from a multicellular organism that would normally not proliferate indefinitely but, due to mutation, have evaded normal cellular senescence and instead can keep undergoing division. The cells ...

used in prostate cancer research and drug development. PC3 cells are useful in investigating biochemical changes in advanced prostate cancer cells and in assessing their response to

chemotherapeutic agents Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs ( chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard regimen. Chemotherapy may be given with a cura ...

. PC3 cells are also used to study viral infection in mammalian cells that exhibit an immune response.

Description

The PC3 cell line was established in 1979 from bone metastasis of grade IV of

prostate The prostate is an male accessory gland, accessory gland of the male reproductive system and a muscle-driven mechanical switch between urination and ejaculation. It is found in all male mammals. It differs between species anatomically, chemica ...

cancer in a 62-year-old Caucasian male. These cells do not respond to androgens, glucocorticoids or fibroblast growth factors, but results suggest that the cells are influenced by epidermal growth factors. PC3 cells can be used to create subcutaneous tumor

xenografts Xenotransplantation (''xenos-'' from the Greek meaning "foreign" or strange), or heterologous transplant, is the transplantation of living cells, tissues or organs from one species to another.metastatic Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spreading from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, ...

potential compared to other pancreatic cells of

DU145 DU145 (DU-145) is a human prostate cancer cell line. DU145, PC3, and LNCaP are considered to be the standard prostate cancer cell lines used in therapeutic research. The DU145 cell line was derived from a central nervous system metastasis, of p ...

cells, which have a moderate metastatic potential, and to

LNCaP LNCaP cells are a cell line of human cells commonly used in the field of oncology. LNCaP cells are androgen-sensitive human prostate adenocarcinoma cells derived from the left supraclavicular lymph node metastasis from a 50-year-old caucasian ma ...

cells, which have low metastatic potential. Comparisons of the

protein expression Protein expression may refer to: *Gene expression, the processes that convert the information of DNA genes into a functional copies of mRNA in living cells *Protein production Protein production is the biotechnological process of generating a ...

of PC3, LNCaP, and other cells have shown that PC3 is characteristic of small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma. PC3 cells have low

testosterone Testosterone is the primary male sex hormone and androgen in Male, males. In humans, testosterone plays a key role in the development of Male reproductive system, male reproductive tissues such as testicles and prostate, as well as promoting se ...

- 5-alpha reductase and acidic phosphatase activity, and do not express PSA ( prostate-specific antigen). Furthermore, karyotypic analysis has shown that PC3 are near-triploid, having 62 chromosomes. Q-band analysis showed no Y chromosome. From a morphological point of view,

electron microscopy An electron microscope is a microscope that uses a beam of electrons as a source of illumination. It uses electron optics that are analogous to the glass lenses of an optical light microscope to control the electron beam, for instance focusing i ...

revealed that PC3 cells show characteristics of a poorly-differentiated

adenocarcinoma Adenocarcinoma (; plural adenocarcinomas or adenocarcinomata ; AC) is a type of cancerous tumor that can occur in several parts of the body. It is defined as neoplasia of epithelial tissue that has glandular origin, glandular characteristics, or ...

. They have features common to neoplastic cells of epithelial origins, such as numerous microvilli, junctional complexes, abnormal nuclei and nucleoli, abnormal mitochondria, annulate lamellae, and lipoidal bodies.

Lines of PC3 cells

There are a variety of Different PC3 cell lines derived from the original PC3 cell line. The most common include PC3-PR Cells, PC-3M Cells, PC3-EGFP Cells, PC3-Dox Cells, PC3-LacZ Cells, PC3-AR Cells. Each of these have different morphological and physiological properties but they all originate from the original PC3 cell derived from the 62-year old caucasian male.

PC3-PR Cells (Paclitaxel-Resistant)

C3-PR cells are Paclitaxel-Resistant cells that, unlike PC3 cells, are resistant with

Paclitaxel Paclitaxel, sold under the brand name Taxol among others, is a chemotherapy medication used to treat ovarian cancer, esophageal cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, Kaposi's sarcoma, cervical cancer, and pancreatic cancer. It is administered b ...

(PTX). In these cells PTX is unable to stimulate p21 and acetylated α-tubulin expression of PC3-PR cells. Though

Cabazitaxel Cabazitaxel, sold under the brand name Jevtana, is a semi-synthetic derivative of a natural taxoid. It is a microtubule inhibitor, and the fourth taxane to be approved as a cancer therapy. Cabazitaxel was developed by Sanofi-Aventis and was ...

and

HDAC Histone deacetylases (, HDAC) are a class of enzymes that remove acetyl groups (O=C-CH3) from an ε-N-acetyl lysine amino acid on both histone and non-histone proteins. HDACs allow histones to wrap the DNA more tightly. This is important becaus ...

inhibitors were able to induce p21 and α-tubulin, these equally suppress PC3-PR cells. Due to the suppression ability of Cabazitaxel and HDAC, these drugs are able to replace the common chemotherapy drug in PC3-PR cells. These cells allow researchers to develop strategies in order to treat prostate cancer that is resistant to traditional chemotherapy drugs. PC-3M Cells (Metastatic) PC-3-M cells are a highly metastatic form of PC3 cells. They metastasize in a much more prolific fashion than regular PC3 cells. These cells are used in research to study the potential treatments of PC's that are highly metastatic. PC3-M is used in research from in-vitro to in-vivo model animals for cancer research. This cell line is able to research the most dangerous, advanced forms of pancreatic cancer, as the high metastasis potential will allow these cells to spread throughout the body in a rapid fashion. PC3-EGFP Cells (Enhanced Green Fluorescent Protein) PC3-EGFP are PC3 cells that have been modified in order to express green fluorescent proteins at a higher rate. This is visible when EGFP expression levels are analyzed. This allows for live tracking of PC3 cells as well as real time imaging. This can be especially useful when studying the proliferation as well as the drug response in PC3 cells. PC3-Dox Cells PC3-Dox cells are modified to be resistant to Doxorubicin. This cell line is used to study multidrug resistance (MDR) in PC3. Specifically miR-21 research is based on this lineage of cells in order to determine if it is possible to reverse (MDR) through the employment of this drug. Additionally these cells look at if it is possible to resensitize PC3 cells to Doxorubicin. PC3-Ras Cells PC3-Ras cells are modified in order to express the oncogene ras. Ras is involved in the activation of downstream effectors that play a role in DNA transcription. This modification allows researchers to study the role of Ras signaling in prostate cancer. This is very important to studying the processes of tumor progression, metastasis, and drug resistance in pancreatic cancer cells, as it is tied to mitosis.

Significance of PC3 in Prostate Cancer Research

Prostate cancer (PC) is the most common form of non-cutaneous malignant cancer in males, and is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in males. PC3 cells have been utilized to research aggressive and castration-resistant forms of prostate cancer. The androgen-independence of these cells during cell division makes them invaluable for studying the molecular mechanisms embedded in studying advanced prostate cancer. PC3 cells have been involved in research regarding the prevention and treatment of prostate cancer. PC3 cells have been used in research surrounding Methylene Blue Photodynamic Laser Therapy (MB-PDT) and Sulforaphane (SFN). Research published in 2023 utilizing PC3 cells illustrated that MB-PDT treatment decreased the antioxidant potential and increased lipid peroxidation, decreasing the viability and metastatic capacity of PC3 cells. The results from this study further support other research that MB-PDT can be used in conjunction with traditional therapies to treat aggressive versions of prostate cancers. SFN treatments have been used to treat prostate cancer as well as many other tumors. SFN is a plant-derived chemical present in many plants, especially broccoli and broccoli sprouts; though there are concerns about the bioavailability of SFN supplements. Nevertheless, many prostate cancer patients have turned to SFN to prevent growth of PCs resistant to many of the traditional forms of treatment. Experimentation in 2020 linked SFN to a decrease in prostate cancer proliferation and growth, using PC3 cells alongside

. These studies found that using treatments as low as 1 μM of SFN decreased PC3 cell count by 50% in-vitro.

References

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External links