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Van-Duyne G, Blair IA, Sprenger C, Moiseenkova-Bell V, Plymate S, Penning TM. The androgen receptor. VITAMINS AND HORMONES 2023; 123:439-481. [PMID: 37717994 DOI: 10.1016/bs.vh.2023.01.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/19/2023]
Abstract
The Androgen Receptor (AR) is a ligand (androgen) activated transcription factor and a member of the nuclear receptor (NR) superfamily. It is required for male sex hormone function. AR-FL (full-length) has the domain structure of NRs, an N-terminal domain (NTD) required for transactivation, a DNA-binding domain (DBD), a nuclear localization signal (NLS) and a ligand-binding domain (LBD). Paradoxes exist in that endogenous ligands testosterone (T) and 5α-dihydrotestosterone (DHT) have differential effects on male sexual development while binding to the same receptor and transcriptional specificity is achieved even though the androgen response elements (AREs) are identical to those seen for the progesterone, glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid receptors. A high resolution 3-dimensional structure of AR-FL by either cryo-EM or X-ray crystallography has remained elusive largely due to the intrinsic disorder of the NTD. AR function is regulated by post-translational modification leading to a large number of proteoforms. The interaction of these proteoforms in multiprotein complexes with co-activators and co-repressors driven by interdomain coupling mediates the AR transcriptional output. The AR is a drug target for selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMS) that either have anabolic or androgenic effects. Protstate cancer is treated with androgen deprivation therapy or by the use of AR antagonists that bind to the LBD. Drug resistance occurs due to adaptive AR upregulation and the appearance of splice variants that lack the LBD and become constitutively active. Bipolar T treatment and NTD-antagonists could surmount these resistance mechanisms, respectively. These recent advances in AR signaling are described.
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Affiliation(s)
- Greg Van-Duyne
- Department of Biophysics & Biochemistry, Perelman School of Medicine University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Ian A Blair
- Department of Systems Pharmacology & Translational Therapeutics, Perelman School of Medicine University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Cynthia Sprenger
- Division of Gerontology & Geriatric Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington and GRECC, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Vera Moiseenkova-Bell
- Department of Systems Pharmacology & Translational Therapeutics, Perelman School of Medicine University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Stephen Plymate
- Division of Gerontology & Geriatric Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington and GRECC, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Trevor M Penning
- Department of Systems Pharmacology & Translational Therapeutics, Perelman School of Medicine University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
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Abstract
Although prostate cancer is the most common malignancy to affect men in the Western world, the molecular mechanisms underlying its development and progression remain poorly understood. Like all cancers, prostate cancer is a genetic disease that is characterized by multiple genomic alterations, including point mutations, microsatellite variations, and chromosomal alterations such as translocations, insertions, duplications, and deletions. In prostate cancer, but not other carcinomas, these chromosome alterations result in a high frequency of gene fusion events. The development and application of novel high-resolution technologies has significantly accelerated the detection of genomic alterations, revealing the complex nature and heterogeneity of the disease. The clinical heterogeneity of prostate cancer can be partly explained by this underlying genetic heterogeneity, which has been observed between patients from different geographical and ethnic populations, different individuals within these populations, different tumour foci within the same patient, and different cells within the same tumour focus. The highly heterogeneous nature of prostate cancer provides a real challenge for clinical disease management and a detailed understanding of the genetic alterations in all cells, including small subpopulations, would be highly advantageous.
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Piao G, Wu J. Mining featured biomarkers associated with prostatic carcinoma based on bioinformatics. Biomarkers 2013; 18:580-6. [DOI: 10.3109/1354750x.2013.827743] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
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Gottlieb B, Alvarado C, Wang C, Gharizadeh B, Babrzadeh F, Richards B, Batist G, Basik M, Beitel LK, Trifiro M. Making sense of intratumor genetic heterogeneity: altered frequency of androgen receptor CAG repeat length variants in breast cancer tissues. Hum Mutat 2013; 34:610-8. [PMID: 23377847 DOI: 10.1002/humu.22287] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2012] [Accepted: 01/14/2013] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
To examine the significance of intratumor genetic heterogeneity (ITGH) of the androgen receptor (AR) gene in breast cancer, patient-matched samples of laser capture microdissected breast tumor cells, adjacent normal breast epithelia cells, and peripheral blood leukocytes were sequenced using a novel next generation sequencing protocol. This protocol measured the frequency of distribution of a variable AR CAG repeat length, a functional polymorphism associated with breast cancer risk. All samples exhibited some degree of ITGH with up to 30 CAG repeat length variants identified. Each type of tissue exhibited a different distribution profile of CAG repeat lengths with substantial differences in the frequencies of zero and 18-25 CAG AR variants. Tissue differences in the frequency of ARs with each of these CAG repeat lengths were significant as measured by paired, twin t-tests. These results suggest that preferential selection of 18-25 CAG repeat length variants in breast tumors may be associated with breast cancer, and support the observation that shorter CAG repeats may protect against breast cancer. They also suggest that merely identifying variant genes will be insufficient to determine the critical mutational events of oncogenesis, which will require measuring the frequency of distribution of mutations within cancerous and matching normal tissues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bruce Gottlieb
- Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
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Molecular markers in sex hormone pathway genes associated with the efficacy of androgen-deprivation therapy for prostate cancer. PLoS One 2013; 8:e54627. [PMID: 23359804 PMCID: PMC3554749 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0054627] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2012] [Accepted: 12/13/2012] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Although most advanced prostate cancer patients respond to androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT), the efficacy is widely variable. We investigated whether the host genetic variations in sex hormone pathway genes are associated with the efficacy of ADT. A cohort of 645 patients with advanced prostate cancer treated with ADT was genotyped for 18 polymorphisms across 12 key genes involved in androgen and estrogen metabolism. We found that after adjusting for known risk factors in multivariate Cox regression models, AKR1C3 rs12529 and AR-CAG repeat length remained significantly associated with prostate cancer-specific mortality (PCSM) after ADT (P ≤ 0.041). Furthermore, individuals carrying two unfavorable genotypes at these loci presented a 13.7-fold increased risk of PCSM compared with individuals carrying zero (P<0.001). Our results identify two candidate molecular markers in key genes of androgen and estrogen pathways associated with PCSM after ADT, establishing the role of pharmacogenomics in this therapy.
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Gottlieb B, Beitel LK, Nadarajah A, Paliouras M, Trifiro M. The androgen receptor gene mutations database: 2012 update. Hum Mutat 2012; 33:887-94. [DOI: 10.1002/humu.22046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 329] [Impact Index Per Article: 27.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2011] [Accepted: 01/18/2012] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
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Misra D, Xie W, Regan MM, Ross RW, Lee GS, Germain D, Kantoff PW, Oh WK. Germline CAG repeat length of the androgen receptor and time to progression in patients with prostate cancer treated with androgen deprivation therapy. BJU Int 2011; 108:1086-91. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1464-410x.2010.10037.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Gottlieb B, Beitel LK, Alvarado C, Trifiro MA. Selection and mutation in the “new” genetics: an emerging hypothesis. Hum Genet 2010; 127:491-501. [DOI: 10.1007/s00439-010-0792-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2009] [Accepted: 01/06/2010] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
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Gottlieb B, Chalifour LE, Mitmaker B, Sheiner N, Obrand D, Abraham C, Meilleur M, Sugahara T, Bkaily G, Schweitzer M. BAK1 gene variation and abdominal aortic aneurysms. Hum Mutat 2009; 30:1043-7. [DOI: 10.1002/humu.21046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
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Di Fabio F, Alvarado C, Gologan A, Youssef E, Voda L, Mitmaker E, Beitel LK, Gordon PH, Trifiro M. Somatic Mosaicism of Androgen Receptor CAG Repeats in Colorectal Carcinoma Epithelial Cells From Men. J Surg Res 2009; 154:38-44. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jss.2008.05.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2008] [Revised: 05/12/2008] [Accepted: 05/13/2008] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Taplin ME. Androgen receptor: role and novel therapeutic prospects in prostate cancer. Expert Rev Anticancer Ther 2008; 8:1495-508. [PMID: 18759700 DOI: 10.1586/14737140.8.9.1495] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Androgen receptor (AR) signaling is necessary for the development of prostate cancer. Androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) for prostate cancer was described over 50 years ago and ADT remains the mainstay of systemic therapy. AR signaling remains intact as the disease evolves to castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Through cellular adaptations, CRPC continues to rely on androgens and AR growth signaling, and thus AR remains an important therapeutic target. CRPC cells upregulate enzymes used in androgen synthesis, thus providing an intracellular source of androgen despite systemic castration. Compounds in development, such as antiandrogens, lyase inhibitors, heat-shock protein-90 inhibitors, histone deacetylase inhibitors and others, will provide new tools to more effectively reduce ligand, inhibit AR and/or inhibit costimulatory pathways and result in improved clinical outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mary-Ellen Taplin
- Harvard Medical School, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology, 44 Binney Street, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
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Claessens F, Denayer S, Van Tilborgh N, Kerkhofs S, Helsen C, Haelens A. Diverse roles of androgen receptor (AR) domains in AR-mediated signaling. NUCLEAR RECEPTOR SIGNALING 2008; 6:e008. [PMID: 18612376 PMCID: PMC2443950 DOI: 10.1621/nrs.06008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 167] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2008] [Accepted: 05/29/2008] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
Androgens control male sexual development and maintenance of the adult male phenotype. They have very divergent effects on their target organs like the reproductive organs, muscle, bone, brain and skin. This is explained in part by the fact that different cell types respond differently to androgen stimulus, even when all these responses are mediated by the same intracellular androgen receptor. To understand these tissue- and cell-specific readouts of androgens, we have to learn the many different steps in the transcription activation mechanisms of the androgen receptor (NR3C4). Like all nuclear receptors, the steroid receptors have a central DNA-binding domain connected to a ligand-binding domain by a hinge region. In addition, all steroid receptors have a relatively large amino-terminal domain. Despite the overall structural homology with other nuclear receptors, the androgen receptor has several specific characteristics which will be discussed here. This receptor can bind two types of androgen response elements (AREs): one type being similar to the classical GRE/PRE-type elements, the other type being the more divergent and more selective AREs. The hormone-binding domain has low intrinsic transactivation properties, a feature that correlates with the low affinity of this domain for the canonical LxxLL-bearing coactivators. For the androgen receptor, transcriptional activation involves the alternative recruitment of coactivators to different regions in the amino-terminal domain, as well as the hinge region. Finally, a very strong ligand-induced interaction between the amino-terminal domain and the ligand-binding domain of the androgen receptor seems to be involved in many aspects of its function as a transcription factor. This review describes the current knowledge on the structure-function relationships within the domains of the androgen receptor and tries to integrate the involvement of different domains, subdomains and motifs in the functioning of this receptor as a transcription factor with tissue- and cell-specific readouts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frank Claessens
- Molecular Endocrinology Laboratory, Campus Gasthuisberg, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
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