PMEPA1 and Familial prostate cancer: In androgen independent PC-3 prostate cancer cells, depletion of PMEPA1 gene (isoform -a) facilitated the bone metastasis of xenograft in nude mice through activating TGF-β signaling and subsequent up-regulation of TGF-β responsive pro-metastatic genes including Il11, Adam13 and Mmp9 [19].