The induction of core pluripotency master regulators in cancers defines poor clinical outcomes and treatment resistance

Clinical expression of core pluripotent stem cell master regulators OCT4, SOX2 and NANOG is associated with treatment resistance and lethal cancers. We have described a novel model to induce the expression of these factors in vitro. We term this culture environment ‘Acquired Pluripotent Stem Cell Environment (APSCE)’ and RNA-seq comparisons were made to culture in conventional serum supplemented ‘Full Media’ (FM) in human prostate (LNCaP, CWR22Rv1) and bladder (RT112) cancer cell lines. Depletion of the androgen receptor (AR) with siRNA targeting exon1(siEX1) was additionally performed in the CWR22Rv1 cell line alongside a scrambled control (siCTRL). mRNA profiles of LNCaP, CWR22Rv1 and RT112 cell lines cultured in APSCE and FM were generated in triplicate via RNA-Seq. CWR22Rv1 mRNA profiles of Scrambled and AR Exon1 siRNA knockdown cultured in the APSCE and FM were additionally generated in triplicate.