Androgen receptor signaling in castration-resistant prostate cancer: a lesson in persistence

  1. Luke A Selth1,2
  1. 1Dame Roma Mitchell Cancer Research Laboratories, School of Medicine, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
  2. 2Freemasons Foundation Centre for Men’s Health, School of Medicine, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
  1. Correspondence should be addressed to L A Selth; Email: luke.selth{at}adelaide.edu.au
  1. Figure 1

    Model for negative feedback loop mediated by AR (AR autoregulation). (A) Recruitment of ligand-bound AR by FoxA1 to an enhancer in intron 2 of the AR gene results in lysine-specific histone demethylase 1 (LSD1)-mediated demethylation of mono- and di-methylated lysine 4 (K4me1 and K4me2, respectively) on histone H3 (LSD1 also demethylates K9 at this loci). Formation of this repressive chromatin environment at the intron 2 enhancer, which also involves the transcription factors GATA2 and Oct1, directly suppresses AR gene transcription via chromatin looping back to the promoter. Chromosome coordinates correspond to hg38 assembly. (B) In a low androgen environment, such as occurs during androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), intron 2 enhancer activity is no longer suppressed by ligand-bound AR and LSD1, resulting in increased AR gene transcription. D, DHT; Me, methyl; Me2, dimethyl; Pol II, RNA polymerase II; TBP, TATA-binding protein. This model is based primarily on data from Cai et al. (2011).

  2. Figure 2

    Novel strategies to target persistent androgen receptor signaling in CRPC. Recently approved agents are shown in red; agents in clinical trials are shown in blue; novel agents still in pre-clinical development are shown in green. CoReg, coregulator; HSP, heat shock protein.

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