Acetylcholine Sustains LNCaP Prostate Cancer Cell Migration, Invasion and Proliferation Through Glyoxalase 1/MG-H1 Axis with the Involvement of Osteopontin

The neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh) plays a pro-carcinogenic role in various cancer types, including prostate cancer (PCa). The existing body of knowledge concerning the mechanisms that underpin the protumoral role of ACh in PCa is limited. Glyoxalase 1 (Glo1) is a metabolic enzyme that removes methylglyoxal (MG), an endogenous post-translational modification agent, generating 5-hydro-5-methylimidazolone (MG-H1). The Glo1/MG-H1 axis is involved in PCa tumorigenesis and progression. By using LNCaP and PC3 PCa cells, representing extensively studied cell models of poorly aggressive and bone metastasis-derived PCa, respectively, we found that ACh specifically sustains LNCaP cell migration, invasion and proliferation through Glo1-dependent MG-H1 accumulation with the involvement of osteopontin (OPN), thus providing a novel mechanism underlying ACh’s protumoral role in PCa cells. The findings of this study unveil a hitherto unidentified mechanism implicated in the progression of PCa, which is initiated by ACh and involves both the Glo1/MG-H1 axis and OPN. This discovery provides the basis for new avenues of in vivo investigation into the physiological relevance of the roles of the ACh-driven Glo1/MG-H1 axis and OPN in PCa progression and for further research aimed at exploring new ways of managing PCa progression, with the aim of preventing the disease from becoming incurable.