Increasing numbers of researchers discovered the expression of
muscarinic acetylcholine receptor 1 in human
cancers, while its function in human
prostate cancer is still unclear. Our present study focused on CHRM1 to clarify its role in mediating autophagy in
prostate cancer. We used immunohistochemistry, western blotting, and immunofluorescence experiments to observe the expression of
muscarinic acetylcholine receptor 1 both in nude mice with subcutaneous
tumors and in
prostate cancer cells. The autophagy was observed through transmission electron microscopy, western blotting, quantitative real-time PCR, and immunofluorescence. After that, we used lentivirus to establish CHRM1 and Atg5 knockdown models. Then, the migration and invasion abilities after knocking down
muscarinic acetylcholine receptor 1 and Atg5 were detected by transwell assays. In addition, the AMPK/mTOR pathway-related targets were detected by western blotting. We found that
muscarinic acetylcholine receptor 1 was abundantly expressed both in vitro and in vivo in
prostate cancer. The overexpression of
muscarinic acetylcholine receptor 1 positively regulated migration and invasion in
tumor cells as well as the activation of autophagy.
Muscarinic acetylcholine receptor 1 was highly correlated with Atg5 and activated the AMPK/mTOR signaling pathway. Downregulation of Atg5 inhibited cell autophagy in
prostate cancer cells and the migration and invasion of
prostate cancer cells. Meanwhile, abnormal expressions of AMPK/mTOR pathway-related
proteins were found. In conclusion, the present findings indicated that
muscarinic acetylcholine receptor 1 is highly expressed in
prostate cancer cells and promotes cell invasion and migration of
prostate cancer. Autophagy is activated in
prostate cancer cells and the activation of
muscarinic acetylcholine receptor 1 positively regulates autophagy in
prostate cancer cells. Moreover,
muscarinic acetylcholine receptor 1 induces autophagy-mediated cell migration and invasion by targeting Atg5 in
prostate cancer cells via AMPK/mTOR pathway, which uncovered that regulating
muscarinic acetylcholine receptor 1, identified in this study, can be a promising
solution for treating
prostate cancer.