Project description:Abstract Background. The cellular effects of androgen are transduced through the androgen receptor, which controls the expression of genes that regulate biosynthetic processes, cell growth, and metabolism. Androgen signaling also impacts DNA damage signaling through mechanisms involving gene expression and transcription-associated DNA damaging events. Defining the contributions of androgen signaling to DNA repair is important for understanding androgen receptor function, and it also has important translational implications. Methods. We generated RNA-seq data from multiple prostate cancer lines and used bioinformatic analyses to characterize androgen-regulated gene expression. We compared the results from cell lines with gene expression data from prostate cancer xenografts, and patient samples, to query how androgen signaling and prostate cancer progression influences the expression of DNA repair genes. We performed whole genome sequencing to help characterize the status of the DNA repair machinery in widely used prostate cancer lines. Finally, we tested a DNA repair enzyme inhibitor for effects on androgen-dependent transcription. Results. Our data indicates that androgen signaling regulates a subset of DNA repair genes that are largely specific to the respective model system and disease state. We identified deleterious mutations in the DNA repair genes RAD50 and CHEK2. We found that inhibition of the DNA repair enzyme MRE11 with the small molecule mirin inhibits androgen-dependent transcription and growth of prostate cancer cells. Conclusions. Our data supports the view that crosstalk between androgen signaling and DNA repair occurs at multiple levels, and that DNA repair enzymes in addition to PARPs, could be actionable targets in prostate cancer.
Project description:The spliced variant forms of androgen receptor (AR-Vs) have been identified recently in castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) cell lines and clinical samples. Here we identified the cistrome and transcriptome landscape of AR-Vs in CRPC cell lines and determine the clinical significance of AR variants regulated gene.The AR variants binding sites can be identified in 22Rv1 cell line in the absence of androgen. Knocking down full-length AR (AR-FL) doesn't affect AR-Vs binding sites in genome-wide. A set of genes were identified to be regulated uniquely by AR-Vs, but not by AR-FL in androgen-depleted condition. Integrated analysis showed that some genes may be modulated by AR-Vs directly. Unsupervised clustering analysis demonstrated that AR variants gene signature can separate not only the benign and malignant prostate tissue, but also the localized prostate cancer and metastatic CRPC specimens. Some genes modulated uniquely by AR variants were also identified to correlate with the Gleason Pattern of prostate cancer and PSA failure. We conclude that AR spliced variants bind to DNA independent of full-length AR, and can modulate a unique set of genes which is not regulated by full-length AR in the absence of androgen. AR variants gene signature correlate with CRPC and prostate cnacer disease progress. Androgen receptor (AR) binding sites in human prostate cancer 22Rv1 cell lines were studied using ChIP-seq. ChIP enriched and input DNA were sequenced using Illumina HiSeq 2000.
Project description:In castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), clinical response to androgen receptor (AR) antagonists is limited mainly due to AR-variants expression and restored AR signaling. The metabolite spermine is most abundant in prostate and it decreases as prostate cancer progresses, but its functions remain poorly understood. Here, we show spermine inhibits full-length androgen receptor (AR-FL) and androgen receptor splice variant 7 (AR-V7) signaling and suppresses CRPC cell proliferation by directly binding and inhibiting protein arginine methyltransferase PRMT1. Spermine reduces H4R3me2a modification at the AR locus and suppresses AR binding as well as H3K27ac modification levels at AR target genes. Spermine supplementation restrains CRPC growth in vivo. PRMT1 inhibition also suppresses AR-FL and AR-V7 signaling and reduces CRPC growth. Collectively, we demonstrate spermine as an anticancer metabolite by inhibiting PRMT1 to transcriptionally inhibit AR-FL and AR-V7 signaling in CRPC, and we indicate spermine and PRMT1 inhibition as powerful strategies overcoming limitations of current AR-based therapies in CRPC.
Project description:Prostate cancer is the second most occurring cancer in men worldwide, and with the advances made with screening for prostate-specific antigen, it has been prone to early diagnosis and over-treatment. To better understand the mechanisms of tumorigenesis and possible treatment responses, we developed a mathematical model of prostate cancer which considers the major signalling pathways known to be deregulated. The model includes pathways such as androgen receptor, MAPK, Wnt, NFkB, PI3K/AKT, MAPK, mTOR, SHH, the cell cycle, the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), apoptosis and DNA damage pathways. The final model accounts for 133 nodes and 449 edges. We applied a methodology to personalise this Boolean model to molecular data to reflect the heterogeneity and specific response to perturbations of cancer patients, using TCGA and GDSC datasets.
Project description:The small heat shock protein Hsp27 has been long demonstrated as a major driver of Castration Resistant Prostate Cancer (CRPC) progression via an androgen receptor-independent pathway. In the light of identification of its molecular mechanisms, we found that the RNA helicase protein DDX5 was an interactor of Hsp27 and DDX5 expression was regulated by Hsp27 through its cytoprotective function. We showed that DDX5 was overexpressed in a large collection of human samples in aggressive PCs, especially CRPC. Here, we described the protein-protein interaction network of DDX5 which were identified in four human prostate cell lines (PNT1A, LNCaP, DU-145 and PC-3) representing different disease stages using immunoaffinity purification and quantitative mass spectrometry. The DDX5 interactome in CRPC cells was enriched in several functions (DNA damage response, translation, transcription, RNA stability, and DNA conformation changes) involved in disease progression. Furthermore, we found a new critical function of DDX5 in DNA damage repair in CRPC and validated the interaction of DDX5 with the DNA repair complex Ku70/Ku86 which plays a pivotal role in the NHEJ process. We also showed that DDX5 overexpression conferred resistance to DNA damage poisoners (such as irradiation and cisplatin) in CRPC, a feature that could lead to genome maintenance, tumor progression and treatment resistance.
Project description:The spliced variant forms of androgen receptor (AR-Vs) have been identified recently in castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) cell lines and clinical samples. Here we identified the cistrome and transcriptome landscape of AR-Vs in CRPC cell lines and determine the clinical significance of AR variants regulated gene.The AR variants binding sites can be identified in 22Rv1 cell line in the absence of androgen. Knocking down full-length AR (AR-FL) doesn't affect AR-Vs binding sites in genome-wide. A set of genes were identified to be regulated uniquely by AR-Vs, but not by AR-FL in androgen-depleted condition. Integrated analysis showed that some genes may be modulated by AR-Vs directly. Unsupervised clustering analysis demonstrated that AR variants gene signature can separate not only the benign and malignant prostate tissue, but also the localized prostate cancer and metastatic CRPC specimens. Some genes modulated uniquely by AR variants were also identified to correlate with the Gleason Pattern of prostate cancer and PSA failure. We conclude that AR spliced variants bind to DNA independent of full-length AR, and can modulate a unique set of genes which is not regulated by full-length AR in the absence of androgen. AR variants gene signature correlate with CRPC and prostate cnacer disease progress.
Project description:Genome wide DNA methylation profiling of androgen-sensitive and –refractory prostate cancer cells. The Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation450 Beadchip was used to obtain DNA methylation profiles across approximately 480.000 CpGs in Prostate cancer cell lines showing different sensitivity to hormonal treatments. Samples included the androgen receptor negative cell lines PC3 and DU145, the androgen sensitive cell line LNCaP and the LNCaP abl cell line expressing androgen receptor but refractory prostate cancer cell line to hormonal treatments.
Project description:The androgen receptor demonstrates transcriptional activity and, through the induction of related genes, contributes to the proliferation of prostate cancer cells. Despite the development of anti-prostate cancer therapies, resistance to current treatments persists in some patients. The expression of mutants or variants of androgen receptors is a significant factor in the emergence of resistance. Consequently, the targeted degradation of these mutants or variants of androgen receptors paves the way for the development of novel therapeutics for patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer. Our data provides the potential of the our novel TPD platform to target previously considered “undruggable” proteins and overcome certain drug resistance mechanisms
Project description:Analysis of bone metastases tissue from castration-resistant prostate cancer patients at the RNA level in relation to expression of constitutively active androgen receptor variants termed AR-V7 and AR-V567es.