Hedgehog/GLI signalling and hormone independence in prostate cancer (PCa) cell lines

High levels of GLI (GLI1 and GLI2) mRNA and GLI luciferase reporter activity were detected in the androgen independent prostate cancer cell lines DU145 and PC-3 compared to the androgen-dependent LNCaP prostate cancer cell line. Subsequently, we observed that ectopic GLI1 promoted hormone independence in LNCaP cells (LNCaP-GLI1). We compared the gene expression profile of LNCaP-pBP (empty vector), LNCaP-GLI1, DU145, and PC-3 cells globally as well as to identify GLI1-regulated genes that may contribute to hormone independence. RNA was harvested and analysed from LNCap-pBP (control/reference sample), LNCaP-GLI1, DU145 and PC-3 cells