Androgen receptor-modulatory microRNAs provide insight into therapy resistance and therapeutic targets in advanced prostate cancer
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Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Androgen receptor (AR) signalling is a key prostate cancer (PC) driver, even inadvanced ‘castrate-resistant’ disease (CRPC). To systematically identify microRNAs (miRs) modulating AR activity in lethal disease, hormone-responsive and -resistant PC cells expressing a luciferase-based AR reporter were transfected with a miR inhibitor library; 78 inhibitors significantly altered AR activity. Upon validation, miR-346, miR-361-3p and miR-197 inhibitors dramatically reduced AR transcriptional activity, mRNA and protein levels, increased apoptosis, reduced proliferation, repressed EMT, inhibited PC migration and invasion, demonstrating additive effects with AR inhibition. Corresponding miRs increased AR activity through a novel and anti-dogmatic mechanism of direct association with AR 6.9kb 3’UTR and transcript stabilisation. In addition, miR-346 and miR-361-3p modulation altered levels of constitutively-active AR variants, and inhibited variant-driven PC cell proliferation, so may contribute to persistent AR signalling in CRPC in the absence of circulating androgens. Pathway analysis of AGO-PAR-CLIP-identified miR targets revealed roles in DNA replication and repair, cell cycle, signal transduction and immune function. Silencing these targets, including tumour suppressors ARHGDIA and TAGLN2, phenocopied miR effects, demonstrating physiological relevance. MiR-346 additionally upregulated the oncogene, YWHAZ, which correlated with grade, biochemical relapse and metastasis in patients. These AR-modulatory miRs and targets correlated with AR activity in patient biopsies, and were elevated in response to long-term enzalutamide treatment of patient-derived CRPC xenografts. In summary, we identified miRs that modulate AR activity in PC and CRPC, via novel mechanisms, and may represent novel PC therapeutic targets.
Date Issued
2019-07-11
Date Acceptance
2019-02-05
Citation
Oncogene, 2019, 38 (28), pp.5700-5724
ISSN
0950-9232
Publisher
Springer Nature [academic journals on nature.com]
Start Page
5700
End Page
5724
Journal / Book Title
Oncogene
Volume
38
Issue
28
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2019. Open Access. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Sponsor
Prostate Cancer UK
Cancer Research UK
Prostate Cancer Foundation
AstraZeneca UK Limited
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust- BRC Funding
Grant Number
DCSJDBAAJ
12196
8300290964
RDB01
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Oncology
Cell Biology
Genetics & Heredity
EXPRESSION SIGNATURE
CELLS
GENE
PROLIFERATION
PROHIBITIN
VARIANTS
IDENTIFICATION
REGIONS
PROTEIN
TUMORS
1112 Oncology and Carcinogenesis
1103 Clinical Sciences
Oncology & Carcinogenesis
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2019-05-01