AmpliSeq Transcriptome Analysis of Human Prostate Cancer Cells With or Without Overt SRRM4 Expression

Prostate adenocarcinoma (AdPC) cells can undergo lineage switching to neuroendocrine cells and develop into therapy-resistant neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC). While genomic/epigenetic alterations are shown to induce neuroendocrine differentiation via an intermediate stem-like state, RNA splicing factor SRRM4 can transform AdPC cells into NEPC xenografts through a direct neuroendocrine transdifferentiation mechanism. Whether SRRM4 can also regulate a stem-cell gene network for NEPC development remains unclear. Here, we use the Ion AmpliSeqTM Transcriptome Human Gene Expression Kit (AmpliSeq) to analyze the transcriptome of human AdPC cell line DU145 overexpressing SRRM4 via lentiviral transduction compared to the control, empty vector-transduced DU145 cells. This study reveals that SRRM4 induces a pluripotency gene network consisting of the stem-cell differentiation gene, SOX2. In summary, we report a novel mechanism by which SRRM4 drives NEPC progression via a pluripotency gene network. Assessment of transcriptome profiles from DU145 cells with or without overt SRRM4 expression using AmpliSeq.