SHCBP1 promotes tumor cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, and is associated with poor prostate cancer prognosis

Prostate cancer (PCa) is an aggressive tumor. SHC SH2-domain-binding protein 1 (SHCBP1) has been identified frequently upregulated in various cancers, in addition to PCa. The aims of this study were to determine the relationships between SHCBP1 and clinicopathological characteristics of PCa and to explore the role of SHCBP1 in PCa proliferation and progression.

Tissue microarray and immunohistochemistry were used to determine the prognostic significance of SHCBP1. The relationship between clinicopathological characteristics of PCa and SHCBP1 was then analyzed using Cox regression analyses. To investigate SHCBP1 functions in vitro and in vivo, we knocked down SHCBP1 in PCa cell lines and established xenograft mice models. A series of cytological function assays were utilized to determine the role of SHCBP1 in cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and apoptosis.

SHCBP1 was significantly upregulated in PCa tissues compared with BPH tissues. Patients with a higher expression of SHCBP1 were associated with poor survival outcomes than those with a lower expression of SHCBP1. Lentivirus-mediated shRNA knockdown of SHCBP1 in prostate cancer cell lines diminished cell growth, migration, and invasion dramatically both in vitro and in vivo, accompanied by an enhanced expression of large tumor suppressor 1 (LATS1) and tumor protein P53 (TP53) and inhibition of MDM2 proto-oncogene (MDM2), which suggested that SHCBP1 may promote proliferation and invasion in vitro via the LATS1–MDM2–TP53 pathway. The results of cycloheximide (CHX) and MG-132 assays indicated that SHCBP1 knockdown could attenuate the degradation of TP53 by the proteasome, prolong the half-life of TP53, and enhance the stabilization of TP53.

These findings suggest that SHCBP1 overexpression contributes to PCa progression and that targeting SHCBP1 might be therapeutically beneficial to patients with PCa.