scholarly journals Castration-resistant prostate cancer: Androgen receptor inactivation induces telomere DNA damage, and damage response inhibition leads to cell death

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vidyavathi Reddy ◽  
Asm Iskander ◽  
Clara Hwang ◽  
George Divine ◽  
Mani Menon ◽  
...  

AbstractTelomere stability is important for cell viability, as cells with telomere DNA damage that is not repaired do not survive. We reported previously that androgen receptor (AR) antagonist induces telomere DNA damage in androgen-sensitive LNCaP prostate cancer cells; this triggers a DNA damage response (DDR) at telomeres that includes activation of ATM, and blocking ATM activation prevents telomere DNA repair and leads to cell death. Remarkably, AR antagonist induces telomere DNA damage and triggers ATM activation at telomeres also in 22Rv1 castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) cells that are not growth inhibited by AR antagonist. Treatment with AR antagonist enzalutamide (ENZ) or ATM inhibitor (ATMi) by itself had no effect on growth in vitro or in vivo, but combined treatment with ENZ plus ATMi significantly inhibited cell survival in vitro and tumor growth in vivo. By inducing telomere DNA damage and activating a telomere DDR, an opportunity to inhibit DNA repair and promote cell death was created, even in CRPC cells. 22Rv1 cells express both full-length AR and AR splice variant AR-V7, but full-length AR was found to be the predominant form of AR associated with telomeres and required for telomere stability. Although 22Rv1 growth of untreated 22Rv1 cells appears to be driven by AR-V7, it is, ironically, expression of full-length AR that makes them sensitive to growth inhibition by combined treatment with ENZ plus ATMi. Notably, this combined treatment approach to induce telomere DNA damage and inhibit the DDR was effective in inducing cell death also in other CRPC cell lines (LNCaP/AR and C4-2B). Thus, the use of ENZ in combination with a DDR inhibitor, such as ATMi, may be effective in prolonging disease-free survival of patients with AR-positive metastatic CRPC, even those that co-express AR splice variant.

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (10) ◽  
pp. 1629-1639 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yingqiu Xie ◽  
Wenfu Lu ◽  
Shenji Liu ◽  
Qing Yang ◽  
Brett S. Carver ◽  
...  

Castration-resistant prostate cancer (PCa) (CRPC) is relapse after various forms of androgen ablation therapy and causes a major mortality in PCa patients, yet the mechanism remains poorly understood. Here, we report the nuclear form of mesenchymal epithelial transition factor (nMET) is essential for CRPC. Specifically, nMET is remarkably increased in human CRPC samples compared with naïve samples. Androgen deprivation induces endogenous nMET and promotes cell proliferation and stem-like cell self-renewal in androgen-nonresponsive PCa cells. Mechanistically, nMET activates SRY (sex determining region Y)-box9, β-catenin, and Nanog homeobox and promotes sphere formation in the absence of androgen stimulus. Combined treatment of MET and β-catenin enhances the inhibition of PCa cell growth. Importantly, MET accumulation is detected in nucleus of recurrent prostate tumors of castrated Pten/Trp53 null mice, whereas MET elevation is predominantly found in membrane of naïve tumors. Our findings reveal for the first time an essential role of nMET association with SOX9/β-catenin in CRPC in vitro and in vivo, highlighting that nuclear RTK activate cell reprogramming to drive recurrence, and targeting nMET would be a new avenue to treat recurrent cancers.


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (7_suppl) ◽  
pp. 326-326
Author(s):  
Nicolas Gordon ◽  
Matthew Joseph Schiewer ◽  
Peter Gallagher ◽  
Amy C Mandigo ◽  
Emanuela Dylgjeri ◽  
...  

326 Background: The administration of ascorbate has proved lethal to and highly selective for a variety of cancer cell types; however, despite an increasingly impressive body of evidence, there has not been a robust effort to translate the observed in vitro and in vivo outcomes to the clinic. This is partially due to the fact that the mechanism by which ascorbate exerts its anti-cancer effect is still under investigation. A simplified model depicts ascorbate as a pro-drug for reactive oxygen species (ROS), which accumulate intracellularly and generate DNA damage. It was therefore hypothesized that poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors (PARPi), by inhibiting DNA damage repair, would augment the toxicity of ascorbate. Methods: In vitro and in vivo models systems queried for anti-tumor effects of PARP inhibitors and ascorbate. Results: Two distinct castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) models were sensitive to ascorbate at physiologically attainable concentrations. These in vitro models were then subjected to treatment with three different PARP inhibitors (olaparib, niraparib, and talazoparib) alone and in combination with ascorbate. The addition of a sub-lethal dose of ascorbate significantly increased cell death across a range of doses for all three PARP inhibitors. A combination index was generated for olaparib and ascorbate in both CRPC models; the results suggest a strongly synergistic relationship between olaparib and ascorbate. Use of a CRPC in vivo model demonstrated that the combination of olaparib and ascorbate significantly increased tumor doubling time compared to vehicle controls and monotherapy. This in vivo efficacy was even more profound in an additional model using castrated mice to mimic the effect of hormone therapy. Additional mechanistic studies are in progress to further investigate the potential for ascorbate and olaparib combination therapy. Conclusions: Ultimately, these data suggest the combination of ascorbate and PARP inhibitors could be an effective treatment for CRPC.


Author(s):  
Michelle Naidoo ◽  
Fayola Levine ◽  
Tamara Gillot ◽  
Akintunde T. Orunmuyi ◽  
E. Oluwabunmi Olapade-Olaopa ◽  
...  

High mortality rates of prostate cancer (PCa) are associated with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) due to the maintenance of androgen receptor (AR) signaling despite androgen deprivation therapies (ADTs). The 8q24 chromosomal locus is a region of very high PCa susceptibility that carries genetic variants associated with high risk of PCa incidence. This region also carries frequent amplifications of the PVT1 gene, a non-protein coding gene that encodes a cluster of microRNAs including, microRNA-1205 (miR-1205), which are largely understudied. Herein, we demonstrate that miR-1205 is underexpressed in PCa cells and tissues and suppresses CRPC tumors in vivo. To characterize the molecular pathway, we identified and validated fry-like (FRYL) as a direct molecular target of miR-1205 and observed its overexpression in PCa cells and tissues. FRYL is predicted to regulate dendritic branching, which led to the investigation of FRYL in neuroendocrine PCa (NEPC). Resistance toward ADT leads to the progression of treatment related NEPC often characterized by PCa neuroendocrine differentiation (NED), however, this mechanism is poorly understood. Underexpression of miR-1205 is observed when NED is induced in vitro and inhibition of miR-1205 leads to increased expression of NED markers. However, while FRYL is overexpressed during NED, FRYL knockdown did not reduce NED, therefore revealing that miR-1205 induces NED independently of FRYL.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng Xie ◽  
Hongliang Yu ◽  
Feijiang Wang ◽  
Feng Yan ◽  
Xia He

Introduction. Radiotherapy is the mainstay in the treatment of prostate cancer. However, significant radioresistance of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) cells constitutes a main obstacle in the treatment of this disease. By using bioinformatic data mining methods, LOXL2 was found to be upregulated in both androgen-independent prostate cancer cell lines and radioresistant tumor samples collected from patients with prostate cancer. We speculate that LOXL2 may play an important role in the radioresistance of CRPC cells. Methods. The effect of LOXL2 knockdown on the radiosensitivity of androgen-independent prostate cancer cells lines was measured by the clonogenic assay and xenograft tumor experiments under in vitro and in vivo conditions, respectively. In studies on the mechanism, we focused on the EMT phenotype changes and cell apoptosis changes induced by LOXL2 knockdown in DU145 cells. The protein levels of three EMT biomarkers, namely, E-cadherin, vimentin, and N-cadherin, were measured by western blotting and immunohistochemical staining. Cell apoptosis after irradiation was measured by flow cytometry and caspase-3 activity assay. Salvage experiment was also conducted to confirm the possible role of EMT in the radiosensitization effect of LOXL2 knockdown in CRPC cells. Results. LOXL2 knockdown in CRPC cells enhanced cellular radiosensitivity under both in vitro and in vivo conditions. A significant reversal of EMT was observed in LOXL2-silenced DU145 cells. Cell apoptosis after irradiation was significantly enhanced by LOXL2 knockdown in DU145 cells. Results from the salvage experiment confirmed the key role of EMT process reversal in the radiosensitization effect of LOXL2 knockdown in DU145 cells. Conclusions. LOXL2 plays an important role in the development of cellular radioresistance in CRPC cells. Targeting LOXL2 may be a rational avenue to overcome radioresistance in CRPC cells. A LOXL2-targeting strategy for CRPC treatment warrants detailed investigation in the future.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (498) ◽  
pp. eaaw4636 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ning Zhao ◽  
Stephanie O. Peacock ◽  
Chen Hao Lo ◽  
Laine M. Heidman ◽  
Meghan A. Rice ◽  
...  

Castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) recurs after androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) and is incurable. Reactivation of androgen receptor (AR) signaling in the low androgen environment of ADT drives CRPC. This AR activity occurs through a variety of mechanisms, including up-regulation of AR coactivators such as VAV3 and expression of constitutively active AR variants such as the clinically relevant AR-V7. AR-V7 lacks a ligand-binding domain and is linked to poor prognosis. We previously showed that VAV3 enhances AR-V7 activity to drive CRPC progression. Gene expression profiling after depletion of either VAV3 or AR-V7 in CRPC cells revealed arginine vasopressin receptor 1a (AVPR1A) as the most commonly down-regulated gene, indicating that this G protein–coupled receptor may be critical for CRPC. Analysis of publicly available human PC datasets showed thatAVPR1Ahas a higher copy number and increased amounts of mRNA in advanced PC. Depletion of AVPR1A in CRPC cells resulted in decreased cell proliferation and reduced cyclin A. In contrast, androgen-dependent PC, AR-negative PC, or nontumorigenic prostate epithelial cells, which have undetectableAVPR1AmRNA, were minimally affected by AVPR1A depletion. Ectopic expression of AVPR1A in androgen-dependent PC cells conferred castration resistance in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, treatment of CRPC cells with the AVPR1A ligand, arginine vasopressin (AVP), activated ERK and CREB, known promoters of PC progression. A clinically safe and selective AVPR1A antagonist, relcovaptan, prevented CRPC emergence and decreased CRPC orthotopic and bone metastatic growth in mouse models. Based on these preclinical findings, repurposing AVPR1A antagonists is a promising therapeutic approach for CRPC.


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