Project description:Castration-resistant PCa (CRPC) remains androgen receptor (AR) dependent. There are multiple mechanisms for reactivation of AR including expression of the constitutively active AR splice variant, AR-V7 (AR3). Earlier studies suggest that though the variants regulate many of the same genes as AR, they also have unique targets. Another argument is that the variant is a “weak” AR without unique targets. We have used an LN95 cell line that endogenously expresses AR and a low level of AR-V7 to compare the activities of the isoforms and to determine whether there is differential regulation of target genes. The transcriptomes for AR and AR-V7 were identified using RNA-Seq.
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:CRPC remains AR dependent. There are multiple mechanisms for reactivation of AR including expression of constitutively active AR splices variant AR-V7 (AR3). Earlier studies suggest that though the variants regulate many of the same genes as AR, they also have unique targets. Another argument is that the variant is a “weak” AR. We have used an LNCaP cell line that expresses AR-V7 in response to doxycycline to compare DNA interactions of the two isoforms and to identify differential regulation of target genes. ChIP-exo method was used to map AR and AR-V7 interaction with DNA in LNCaP engineered cell line (LNCaP AR-V7) at single base resolution.
Project description:CRPC remains AR dependent. There are multiple mechanisms for reactivation of AR including expression of constitutively active AR splices variant AR-V7 (AR3). Earlier studies suggest that though the variants regulate many of the same genes as AR, they also have unique targets. Another argument is that the variant is a “weak” AR. We have used an LNCaP cell line that expresses AR-V7 in response to doxycycline (LNCaP AR-V7) to compare the activities of the two isoforms and to identify differential regulation of target genes. We also used VCaP cell line that expresses AR-V7 in response to doxycycline (VCaP AR-V7) to validate the activities of the two isoforms in an alternative prostate cancer cell line. The transcriptomes for AR and AR-V7 in these cell lines were identified using RNA-Seq.
Project description:The constitutively active androgen receptor (AR) splice variant 7 (AR-V7) plays an important role in the progression of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Although biomarker studies established the role of AR-V7 in resistance to AR-targeting therapies, how AR-V7 mediates genomic functions in CRPC remains largely unknown. Using a ChIP-exo approach, we show AR-V7 binds to distinct genomic regions and recognizes a full-length androgen-responsive element in CRPC cells and patient tissues. Remarkably, we find dramatic differences in AR-V7 cistromes across diverse CRPC cells and patient tissues, regulating different target gene sets involved in CRPC progression. Surprisingly, we discover that HoxB13 is universally required for and colocalizes with AR-V7 binding to open chromatin across CRPC genomes. HoxB13 pioneers AR-V7 binding through direct physical interaction, and collaborates with AR-V7 to up-regulate target oncogenes. Transcriptional coregulation by HoxB13 and AR-V7 was further supported by their coexpression in tumors and circulating tumor cells from CRPC patients. Importantly, HoxB13 silencing significantly decreases CRPC growth through inhibition of AR-V7 oncogenic function. These results identify HoxB13 as a pivotal upstream regulator of AR-V7-driven transcriptomes that are often cell context-dependent in CRPC, suggesting that HoxB13 may serve as a therapeutic target for AR-V7-driven prostate tumors.
Project description:The androgen receptor (AR) is a ligand-inducible transcription factor that mediates androgen action in target tissues. Upon ligand binding, the AR binds to thousands of genomic loci and activates a cell-type specific gene program. Prostate cancer growth and progression depend on androgen-induced AR signalling. Treatment of advanced prostate cancer through medical or surgical castration leads to initial response and durable remission, but resistance inevitably develops. In castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), AR activity remains critical for tumor growth despite androgen deprivation. While previous studies have focused on ligand-dependent AR signalling, in this study we explore AR function under the androgen-deprived conditions characteristic of CRPC. Our data demonstrate that the AR persistently occupies a distinct set of genomic loci after androgen deprivation in CRPC. These androgen-independent AR occupied regions have constitutively open chromatin structures that lack the canonical androgen response element and are independent of FoxA1, a transcription factor involved in ligand-dependent AR targeting. Many AR binding events occur at proximal promoters, which can act as enhancers to augment transcriptional activities of other promoters through DNA looping. We further show that androgen-independent AR binding directs a distinct gene expression program in CRPC, which is necessary for the growth of CRPC after androgen withdrawal. LNCaP, C4-2B, or 22RV1 cells were cultured in hormone-free media for 3 days and then treated with ethanol vehicle or DHT (10nM) for 4h or 16h prior to ChIP-seq or RNA-seq assays. For siRNA transfection, cells were transfected with AR siRNA or control siRNA for 3 days prior to RNA-seq assays.