We recently demonstrated that C-CAM, an epithelial-cell adhesion molecule of the immunoglobulin supergene family, could be regulated by androgen and might act as a growth repressor during differentiation of the prostatic epithelium. To define the role of C-CAM in prostatic tumorigenesis, a tumorigenic human prostatic cancer cell line, PC-3, was transfected with an expression plasmid containing C-CAM1 (a C-CAM isoform). Transfected clones showed significantly lower growth rates, reduced anchorage-independent growth, and less tumorigenicity in vivo than control cells. Furthermore, transfection of an antisense vector into a nontumorigenic prostatic epithelial cell line, NbE, resulted in tumor formation in nude mice. Sublines derived from these NbE-induced tumors had lower levels of C-CAM than did control cells. These data suggest that C-CAM1 can function as a tumor suppressor in prostate tumorigenesis.