Project description:Androgen receptor (AR) is a ligand-activated transcription factor that plays a central role in the development and growth of prostate carcinoma. PIAS1 is an AR- and SUMO-interacting protein and a putative transcriptional coregulator overexpressed in prostate cancer. To study the importance of PIAS1 for the androgen-regulated transcriptome of VCaP prostate cancer cells, we silenced its expression by RNAi. Transcriptome analyses revealed that a subset of the AR-regulated genes is significantly influenced, either activated or repressed, by PIAS1 depletion. Interestingly, PIAS1 depletion also exposed a new set of genes to androgen regulation, suggesting that PIAS1 can mask distinct genomic loci from AR access. In keeping with gene expression data, silencing of PIAS1 attenuated VCaP cell proliferation. ChIP-seq analyses showed that PIAS1 interacts with AR at chromatin sites harboring also SUMO2/3 and surrounded by H3K4me2; androgen exposure increased the number of PIAS1-occupying sites, resulting in nearly complete overlap with AR chromatin binding events. PIAS1 interacted also with the pioneer factor FOXA1. Of note, PIAS1 depletion affected AR chromatin occupancy at binding sites enriched for HOXD13 and GATA motifs. Taken together, PIAS1 is a genuine chromatin-bound AR coregulator that functions in a target gene selective fashion to regulate prostate cancer cell growth.
Project description:The majority of breast cancer subtypes express androgen receptor (AR) in addition to estrogen receptor a (ERa). Depending on the breast cancer subtype androgen signaling has either stimulatory or inhibitory roles in breast cancer cell growth. We have mapped AR cistrome in ERa negative human molecular apocrine breast cancer MDA-MB453 cells and analyzed it in relation to the androgen-regulated transcriptome in the same cells. We have also examined the effect of silencing of the coregulator SUMO ligase PIAS1 on the androgen-regulated transcriptome and AR cistrome in MDA-MB453 cells. Our results show that the MDA-MB453 cells share with VCaP prostate cancer cells a core AR cistrome and target gene signature linked to cancer cell growth and that PIAS1 acts as an AR target gene-selective coregulator in MDA-MB453 cells.
Project description:To study the importance of PIAS1 (protein inhibitor of activated STAT1) for the androgen-regulated transcriptome of VCaP prostate cancer cells, we silenced its expression by RNAi. Transcriptome analyses revealed that a subset of the androgen-regulated genes is significantly influenced, either activated or repressed, by PIAS1 depletion. The depletion also exposed a completely new set of genes to androgen regulation, suggesting that PIAS1 can mask genes from androgen receptor (AR). Pathway analyses of gene expression data suggest involvement of PIAS1 in VCaP cell proliferation. According to genome-wide ChIP-seq analyses, PIAS1 interacts with the AR on chromatin harboring also SUMO2/3, as androgen exposure multiplied the occupancy of PIAS1 in the chromatin, and resulted in nearly complete overlap with AR chromatin binding events. PIAS1 interacted also with pioneer factor FOXA1 in the chromatin. Our results strongly suggest that PIAS1 is a genuine chromatin-bound coregulator of AR which functions in a target gene selective fashion in prostate cancer cells.
Project description:Background/aimTriple-negative breast cancers represent 15% of all mammary malignancies and encompass several entities with different genomic characteristics. Among these, luminal androgen receptor (LAR) tumors express the androgen receptor (AR) and are characterized by a genomic profile which resembles luminal breast cancers. Moreover, LAR malignancies are usually enriched in PIK3CA, KMTC, CDH, NF1, and AKT1 alterations. Still, molecular features, clinical behavior and prognosis of this variant remain controversial, while identification of effective treatments represents an unmet medical need. Additionally, the predictive role of the AR is unclear.Materials and methodsWe performed an extensive next generation sequencing analysis using a commercially available panel in a cohort of patients with LAR breast cancer followed at two local Institutions. We next employed bioinformatic tools to identify signaling pathways involved in LAR pathogenesis and looked for potentially targetable alterations.ResultsEight patients were included in the study. In our cohort we found 26 known genetic alterations (KGAs) in 15 genes and 64 variants of unknown significance (VUS) in 59 genes. The most frequent KGAs were single nucleotide variants in PIK3CA, HER2, PTEN and TP53. Among VUS, CBFB, EP300, GRP124, MAP3K1, RANBP2 and TSC2 represented recurrently altered genes. We identified five signaling pathways (MAPK, PI3K/AKT, TP53, apoptosis and angiogenesis) involved in the pathogenesis of LAR breast cancer. Several alterations, including those in PIK3CA, ERBB2 and PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling, were potentially targetable.ConclusionOur findings confirm a role for PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling in the pathogenesis of LAR breast cancers and indicate that targeting this pathway, along with ERBB2 mutations, may represent an additional therapeutic strategy which deserves further exploration in larger studies.
Project description:Although molecular signatures based on transcript expression in breast cancer samples have provided new insights into breast cancer classification and prognosis, there are acknowledged limitations in current signatures. To provide rational, pathway-based signatures of disrupted physiology in cancer tissues that may be relevant to prognosis, this study has directly quantitated changed gene expression, between normal breast and cancer tissue, as a basis for signature development. The nuclear receptor (NR) family of transcription factors, and their coregulators, are fundamental regulators of every aspect of metazoan life, and were rigorously quantified in normal breast tissues and ER? positive and ER? negative breast cancers. Coregulator expression was highly correlated with that of selected NR in normal breast, particularly from postmenopausal women. These associations were markedly decreased in breast cancer, and the expression of the majority of coregulators was down-regulated in cancer tissues compared with normal. While in cancer the loss of NR-coregulator associations observed in normal breast was common, a small number of NR (Rev-ERB?, GR, NOR1, LRH-1 and PGR) acquired new associations with coregulators in cancer tissues. Elevated expression of these NR in cancers was associated with poorer outcome in large clinical cohorts, as well as suggesting the activation of ER? -related, but ER?-independent, pathways in ER? negative cancers. In addition, the combined expression of small numbers of NR and coregulators in breast cancer was identified as a signature predicting outcome in ER? negative breast cancer patients, not linked to proliferation and with predictive power superior to existing signatures containing many more genes. These findings highlight the power of predictive signatures derived from the quantitative determination of altered gene expression between normal breast and breast cancers. Taken together, the findings of this study identify networks of NR-coregulator associations active in normal breast but disrupted in breast cancer, and moreover provide evidence that signatures based on NR networks disrupted in cancer can provide important prognostic information in breast cancer patients.
Project description:This study investigated the network of genes that are co-expressed with androgen receptor (AR) to discover novel AR targets in breast cancer. Bioinformatics analysis of two datasets from breast cancer cell lines resulted in the identification of an AR-gene signature constituted of 98 genes that highly correlated with AR expression. Notably, C1orf64 showed the highest positive correlation with AR across the datasets with a correlation coefficient (CC) of 0.737. In addition, C1orf64 closely correlated with AR expression in primary and metastatic breast tumors and C1orf64 expression was relatively higher in breast tumors with a lower grade and lobular histology. Furthermore, there is a functional interplay between AR and C1orf64 in breast cancer. In this process, AR activation directly represses C1orf64 transcription and C1orf64, in turn, interacts with AR as a corepressor and negatively regulates the AR-mediated induction of prolactin-induced protein (PIP) and AR reporter activity. Moreover, the corepressor effect of C1orf64 results in a reduction of AR binding to PIP promoter. The other aspect of this interplay involves a cross-talk between AR and estrogen receptor (ER) signaling in which C1orf64 silencing intensifies the AR-mediated down-regulation of ER target gene, progesterone receptor. Therefore, the repression of C1orf64 by AR provides an underlying mechanism for the AR inhibitory effects on ER signaling. To elucidate the biochemical mechanisms of C1orf64 function, this study demonstrates that C1orf64 is a phosphothreonine protein that interacts with the chaperone protein 14-3-3. In summary, C1orf64 is a novel AR coregulator and a 14-3-3 binding partner in breast cancer.
Project description:Triple-negative breast cancers (TNBC) are aggressive malignancies with no effective targeted therapies. Recent gene expression profiling of these heterogeneous cancers and the classification of cell line models now allows for the identification of compounds with selective activities against molecular subtypes of TNBC. The natural product deguelin was found to have selective activity against MDA-MB-453 and SUM-185PE cell lines, which both model the luminal androgen receptor (LAR) subtype of TNBC. Deguelin potently inhibited proliferation of these cells with GI50 values of 30 and 61 nM, in MDA-MB-453 and SUM-185PE cells, respectively. Deguelin had exceptionally high selectivity, 197 to 566-fold, for these cell lines compared to cell lines representing other TNBC subtypes. Deguelin's mechanisms of action were investigated to determine how it produced these potent and selective effects. Our results show that deguelin has dual activities, inhibiting PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling, and decreasing androgen receptor levels and nuclear localization. Based on these data, we hypothesized that the combination of the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin and the antiandrogen enzalutamide would have efficacy in LAR models. Rapamycin and enzalutamide showed additive effects in MDA-MB-453 cells, and both drugs had potent antitumor efficacy in a LAR xenograft model. These results suggest that the combination of antiandrogens and mTOR inhibitors might be an effective strategy for the treatment of androgen receptor-expressing TNBC.