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Targeting intratumoral androgens: statins and beyond.

ABSTRACT: While initially effective, androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is not curative, and nearly all men with advanced prostate cancer will eventually progress to the more resistant, and ultimately lethal form of the disease, so called castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). The maintenance of androgens within the prostate cancer microenvironment likely represents one of the key mechanisms by which this transition from hormone-sensitive to CRPC occurs. This can be accomplished either through intratumoral androgen biosynthesis or the active transport of androgens and androgenic precursors into the tumor microenvironment. More recently, preclinical and clinical data supported therapeutic strategies that seek to target these two mechanisms, either through the use of drugs that impair androgen biosynthesis (e.g. inhibiting the steroidogenic enzymes CYP17 and AKR1C3 with abiraterone and indomethacin, respectively) or drugs that inhibit the SLCO transporters responsible for importing androgens (e.g. statins).

SUBMITTER: Schweizer MT

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4981288 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Targeting intratumoral androgens: statins and beyond.

Schweizer Michael T MT Yu Evan Y EY

Therapeutic advances in medical oncology 20160511 5

While initially effective, androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is not curative, and nearly all men with advanced prostate cancer will eventually progress to the more resistant, and ultimately lethal form of the disease, so called castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). The maintenance of androgens within the prostate cancer microenvironment likely represents one of the key mechanisms by which this transition from hormone-sensitive to CRPC occurs. This can be accomplished either through intra ...[more]

PMID: 27583031

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Project description:Therapy for advanced prostate cancer centers on suppressing systemic androgens and blocking activation of the androgen receptor (AR). Despite anorchid serum androgen levels, nearly all patients develop castration-resistant disease. We hypothesized that ongoing steroidogenesis within prostate tumors and the maintenance of intratumoral androgens may contribute to castration-resistant growth. Using mass spectrometry and quantitative reverse transcription-PCR, we evaluated androgen levels and transcripts encoding steroidogenic enzymes in benign prostate tissue, untreated primary prostate cancer, metastases from patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer, and xenografts derived from castration-resistant metastases. Testosterone levels within metastases from anorchid men [0.74 ng/g; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 0.59-0.89] were significantly higher than levels within primary prostate cancers from untreated eugonadal men (0.23 ng/g; 95% CI, 0.03-0.44; P < 0.0001). Compared with primary prostate tumors, castration-resistant metastases displayed alterations in genes encoding steroidogenic enzymes, including up-regulated expression of FASN, CYP17A1, HSD3B1, HSD17B3, CYP19A1, and UGT2B17 and down-regulated expression of SRD5A2 (P < 0.001 for all). Prostate cancer xenografts derived from castration-resistant tumors maintained similar intratumoral androgen levels when passaged in castrate compared with eugonadal animals. Metastatic prostate cancers from anorchid men express transcripts encoding androgen-synthesizing enzymes and maintain intratumoral androgens at concentrations capable of activating AR target genes and maintaining tumor cell survival. We conclude that intracrine steroidogenesis may permit tumors to circumvent low levels of circulating androgens. Maximal therapeutic efficacy in the treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer will require novel agents capable of inhibiting intracrine steroidogenic pathways within the prostate tumor microenvironment.

Dataset Information

Targeting intratumoral androgens: statins and beyond.

Publications

Targeting intratumoral androgens: statins and beyond.

Similar Datasets

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