Testicular orphan receptor 4 promotes tumor progression and implies poor survival through AKT3 regulation in seminoma

Abstract

Seminoma is recognized as the most common testicular germ cell tumor which mainly occurs in the 15-35-year-old young men worldwide. Early studies have indicated that testicular nuclear receptor 4 (TR4) firstly cloned from testis is involved in the invasion and metastasis of several human tumors, however, little attention is paid to the function of TR4 in Seminoma. Our Immunohistochemical (IHC) staining results showed that patients who underwent advanced stage tended to higher expression of TR4. Importantly, there was a significant association between elevated TR4 expression and reduced Overall Survival in seminoma patients. In vitro MTS, western blot and transwell assays after manipulating TR4 expression in Tcam-2 cells revealed that TR4 induced epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and promoted Tcam-2 cells proliferation and invasion. Mechanism dissection demonstrated that AKT3, a critical component in the signaling pathway, played a crucial role in mediating TR4-promoted Tcam-2 cells proliferation and invasion. We further revealed TR4 modulated AKT3 at the transcriptional level via chromatin immunoprecipitation and luciferase assays. Meanwhile, addition of the AKT3 siRNA blocked the function of TR4. Overall, these findings firstly elucidate TR4 is a novel prognostic marker and plays a critical role in the metastatic capacity of Tcam-2 cells by EMT regulation and consequently targeting TR4-AKT3 pathway may serve as a potential therapeutic approach for seminoma.

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