Reduced growth rate and transformation phenotype of the prostate cancer cells by an interferon-inducible protein, p202.

Interferons (IFNs) can exert cytostatic and immunomodulatory effects on carcinoma cells. In particular, growth inhibition of human prostate carcinoma by IFNs has been demonstrated both in vitro and in vivo. p202 is a 52 kd nuclear phosphoprotein known to be induced by IFNs. In this report, we showed that the expression of p202 was associated with an anti-proliferative effect on human prostate cancer cells. More importantly, cells that expressed p202 showed reduced ability to grow in soft-agar, indicating a loss of transformation phenotype. Our data suggest that p202 is a growth inhibitor gene in prostate cancer cells and its expression may also suppress transformation phenotype of prostate cancer cells.