Caveolin-1 is regulated by c-myc and suppresses c-myc-induced apoptosis

accent data indicating that overexpression of caveolin-1 as well as c-myc are relatively. common features of advanced prostate cancer prompted us to test for potential cooperative interactions between caveolin-1 and c-myc that would be consistent with malignant progression. We used the well-characterized Rat1AmycER(TM) cells to show that the caleolin-1 gene is down-regulated at the level of transcription by c-myc. BS maintaining relatively high levels of caveolin-1 with an adenoviral vector or in stably transfected clones we show; that caveolin-1 can suppress c-myc-induced apoptosis, Further we established human prostate cancer cell lines with the mycER(TM) construct and show that clones with increased caveolin-1 are more resistant to myc-induced apoptosis and have increased capacity for growth in soft agar when c-myc is activated.