A natural molecule, urolithin A, downregulates androgen receptor activation and suppresses growth of prostate cancer.

Androgen ablation therapy is the primary therapeutic option for locally advanced and metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). We investigated therapeutic effect of a dietary metabolite Urolithin A (UroA) and dissected the molecular mechanism in CRPC cells. Treatment with UroA inhibited cell proliferation in both androgen receptor-positive (AR+ ) (C4-2B) and androgen receptor-negative (AR- ) (PC-3) cells however, AR+ CaP cells were more sensitive to UroA treatment as compared with AR- CaP cells. Inhibition of the AR signaling was responsible for the UroA effect on AR+ CaP cells. Ectopic expression of AR in PC-3 cells sensitized them to UroA treatment as compared to the vector-expresseing PC-3 cells, which suggests that AR could be a target of UroA. Similarly, in enzalutamide-resistant C4-2B cells, a downregulation of AR expression also suppressed cell proliferation which was observed with the UroA treatment. Oral administration of UroA significantly suppressed the growth of C4-2B xenografts (P = 0.05) compared with PC-3 xenografts (P = 0.069) without causing toxicity to animals. Immunohistochemistry analysis confirmed in vitro findings such as downregulation of AR/pAKT signaling in UroA-treated C4-2B tumors, which suggests that UroA may be a potent chemo-preventive and therapeutic agent for CRPC.

Dahiya NR ，Chandrasekaran B ，Kolluru V ，Ankem M ，Damodaran C ，Vadhanam MV ... -  《-》

A novel androgen receptor antagonist JJ-450 inhibits enzalutamide-resistant mutant AR(F876L) nuclear import and function.

Castration-resistant prostate cancer can develop resistance to enzalutamide because of androgen receptor (AR) point mutations, AR overexpression, constitutively active AR splice variants, and/or elevated intratumoral androgen synthesis. The point mutation ARF876L was reported to be stimulated, instead of inhibited, by enzalutamide, thus contributing to enzalutamide resistance. We have recently developed JJ-450 as a novel AR antagonist with the potential to treat enzalutamide-resistant castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). We employed several assays to determine the impact of JJ-450 and enzalutamide on prostate cancer cell lines expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP)-ARF876L . These assays include a prostate-specific antigen enhancer/promoter-based luciferase assay to determine AR transcriptional activity, a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction assay, and Western blot analysis to detect expression of AR-target genes at the messenger RNA and protein level, fluorescence microscopy to show AR subcellular localization, and a 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine assay to measure prostate cancer cell proliferation. As expected, enzalutamide inhibited wild-type (WT) AR but not ARF876L transcriptional activity in the luciferase assay. In contrast, JJ-450 inhibited both WT-AR and ARF876L transcriptional activity to a similar extent. Also, enzalutamide retarded androgen-induced nuclear import of GFP-AR, but not GFP-ARF876L , whereas JJ-450 retarded nuclear import of both GFP-AR and GFP-ARF876L . To further evaluate JJ-450 inhibition of ARF876L , we stably transfected C4-2 cells separately with GFP-AR or GFP-ARF876L . Enzalutamide inhibited endogenous AR-target gene expression in C4-2-GFP-ARWT , but not in the C4-2-GFP-ARF876L subline, whereas JJ-450 inhibited AR-target gene expression in both C4-2 sublines. More importantly, enzalutamide inhibited proliferation of C4-2-GFP-ARWT , but not of the C4-2-GFP-ARF876L subline, whereas JJ-450 inhibited proliferation of both C4-2 sublines. JJ-450 inhibits enzalutamide-resistant ARF876L mutant nuclear translocation and function. Our findings suggest that JJ-450 and its analogs should be further developed to provide a potential new approach for the treatment of enzalutamide-resistant CRPC.

Wu Z ，Wang K ，Yang Z ，Pascal LE ，Nelson JB ，Takubo K ，Wipf P ，Wang Z ... -  《-》

Galectin-3 Is Implicated in Tumor Progression and Resistance to Anti-androgen Drug Through Regulation of Androgen Receptor Signaling in Prostate Cancer.

Castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC)-related deaths are increasing worldwide. Therefore, clarification of the mechanisms of hormone-related tumor progression and resistance to anti-androgen drugs is useful in order to develop strategies for appropriate treatment of CRPC. Galectin-3 has been shown to be correlated with tumor progression in a variety of cancer types through the regulation of tumor proliferation, angiogenesis, and apoptosis. We examined tumor cell invasion and migration using the xCELLigence system. Control LNCaP and galectin-3-expressing LNCaP (LNCaP-Gal-3) cells were cultured with androgen-depleted medium with 5% charcoal-stripped serum. Cells were treated for 24 h with or without dihydrotestosterone alone or combined with MDV3100 and bicalutamide; gene profile was then analyzed by microarray analysis and mRNA expression was confirmed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). We evaluated tumor growth using spheroids and xenograft tumor growth in a mouse model. In vitro, LNCaP-Gal-3 cells promoted both cell migration and invasion in an androgen-independent manner compared to control LNCaP cells. Galectin-3 also enhanced anchorage-independent growth and xenograft tumor growth even after castration. Importantly, galectin-3 greatly enhanced transcriptional activity of the androgen receptor (AR), especially on treatment with dihydrotestosterone. In microarray and qRT-PCR analyses, galectin-3 increased the expression of several AR-target genes, such as kallikrein-related peptidase 3 (KLK3), and transmembrane protease, serine 2 (TMPRSS2). These AR-target genes were not fully suppressed by anti-androgen drugs such as bicalutamide or MDV3100. Galectin-3 significantly inhibited the effect induced by anti-androgen drugs MDV3100 and bicalutamide, suggesting that galectin-3 may be involved in resistance to anti-androgen drug through enhancement of transcriptional activity of AR and expression of AR-related genes. These results suggest that galectin-3 is a potential target molecule for future treatment of anti-androgen drug-resistant prostate cancer.

Dondoo TO ，Fukumori T ，Daizumoto K ，Fukawa T ，Kohzuki M ，Kowada M ，Kusuhara Y ，Mori H ，Nakatsuji H ，Takahashi M ，Kanayama HO ... -  《-》

Combination of carmustine and selenite effectively inhibits tumor growth by targeting androgen receptor, androgen receptor-variants, and Akt in preclinical models: New hope for patients with castration resistant prostate cancer.

Despite established androgen receptor (AR) antagonists, AR/AR-variants signaling remain a major obstacle for the successful treatment of castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). In addition, CRPC cells adapt to survive via AR-independent pathways to escape next generation therapies. Therefore, there is an urgent need for drugs that can target these signaling pathways in CRPC. In this study, we sought to determine whether carmustine and selenite in combination could induce apoptosis and inhibit growth of CRPC in-vitro and in-vivo. CRPC (22Rv1, VCaP, and PC-3) cell lines in culture and xenograft mouse were used. Combination of carmustine and selenite treatment significantly increased reactive oxygen species, apoptosis and growth inhibition in CRPC cells with down regulation of anti-apoptotic (Bcl-2 and Mcl-1) and proliferative proteins (c-Myc and cyclin-D1). This effect was associated with complete reduction of AR/AR-variants, AR-V7, PSA and significant induction of p27Kip1. Combination treatment substantially abolished phospho-Akt, phospho-GSK-3β, and anchorage-independent growth in AR-positive and AR-negative cells. Consistent with in-vitro results, combination treatment effectively induced apoptosis and completely inhibited xenograft tumor growth and markedly reduced AR/AR-variants, AR-V7, PSA, and Bcl-2 in xenograft tumors without causing genotoxicity in host mice. Individual agent treatment showed only partial effect. The combination treatment showed a significant synergistic effect. The present study is the first to demonstrate that the combination of carmustine and selenite treatment completely suppressed CRPC tumor growth by reducing AR/AR-variants and Akt signaling. Our findings suggest that the combination of carmustine and selenite could constitute a promising next-generation therapy for successful treatment of patients with CRPC.

Thamilselvan V ，Menon M ，Thamilselvan S 《-》

NDRG2 acts as a negative regulator downstream of androgen receptor and inhibits the growth of androgen-dependent and castration-resistant prostate cancer.

Yu C ，Wu G ，Li R ，Gao L ，Yang F ，Zhao Y ，Zhang J ，Zhang R ，Zhang J ，Yao L ，Yuan J ，Li X ... -  《-》