A novel androgen receptor splice variant is up-regulated during prostate cancer progression and promotes androgen depletion-resistant growth.

ABSTRACT: The androgen receptor (AR) plays a key role in progression to incurable androgen ablation-resistant prostate cancer (PCA). We have identified three novel AR splice variants lacking the ligand-binding domain (designated as AR3, AR4, and AR5) in hormone-insensitive PCA cells. AR3, one of the major splice variants expressed in human prostate tissues, is constitutively active, and its transcriptional activity is not regulated by androgens or antiandrogens. Immunohistochemistry analysis on tissue microarrays containing 429 human prostate tissue samples shows that AR3 is significantly up-regulated during PCA progression and AR3 expression level is correlated with the risk of tumor recurrence after radical prostatectomy. Overexpression of AR3 confers ablation-independent growth of PCA cells, wher

SUBMITTER: Guo Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2672822 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature