Sensitivity to polyamine-induced growth arrest correlates with antizyme induction in prostate carcinoma cells

High local polyamine concentrations may suppress cell growth of primary pro static carcinomas. When cell growth assays were conducted in defined serum- free medium, spermine inhibited the growth of poorly metastatic rat prostat e carcinoma cells, causing cell cycle arrest in the G(1) phase. In contrast , highly metastatic prostate carcinoma cells were resistant to the growth i nhibitory activity of spermine. Ornithine decarboxylase antizyme levels, me asured by Western blotting, were elevated 1-2 h after spermine treatment of spermine-sensitive cells but not spermine-resistant cells. Spermine uptake was similar in both the sensitive and resistant cell lines. These results suggest that failure to induce antizyme correlates with spermine resistance in prostate carcinoma.