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Han X, Zhao L, Xiang W, Wang M, Miao B, Qin C, McEachern D, Lu J, Wang Y, Metwally H, Kirchhoff P, Wang L, Matvekas A, Takyi-Williams J, Wen B, Sun D, Ator M, Mckean R, Wang S. Discovery of ARD-2051 as a Potent and Orally Efficacious Proteolysis Targeting Chimera (PROTAC) Degrader of Androgen Receptor for the Treatment of Advanced Prostate Cancer. J Med Chem 2023; 66:8822-8843. [PMID: 37382562 PMCID: PMC10568492 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.3c00405] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/30/2023]
Abstract
We report the discovery of ARD-2051 as a potent and orally efficacious androgen receptor (AR) proteolysis-targeting chimera degrader. ARD-2051 achieves DC50 values of 0.6 nM and Dmax >90% in inducing AR protein degradation in both the LNCaP and VCaP prostate cancer cell lines, potently and effectively suppresses AR-regulated genes, and inhibits cancer cell growth. ARD-2051 achieves a good oral bioavailability and pharmacokinetic profile in mouse, rat, and dog. A single oral dose of ARD-2051 strongly reduces AR protein and suppresses AR-regulated gene expression in the VCaP xenograft tumor tissue in mice. Oral administration of ARD-2051 effectively inhibits VCaP tumor growth and causes no signs of toxicity in mice. ARD-2051 is a promising AR degrader for advanced preclinical development for the treatment of AR+ human cancers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xin Han
- The Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
| | - Lijie Zhao
- The Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
| | - Weiguo Xiang
- The Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
| | - Mi Wang
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
| | - Bukeyan Miao
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
| | - Chong Qin
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
| | - Donna McEachern
- The Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
| | - Jianfeng Lu
- The Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
| | - Yu Wang
- The Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
| | - Hoda Metwally
- The Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
| | - Paul Kirchhoff
- The Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
| | - Lu Wang
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
| | - Aleksas Matvekas
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
| | - John Takyi-Williams
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
| | - Bo Wen
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
| | - Duxin Sun
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
| | - Mark Ator
- Oncopia Therapeutics Inc, 2 West Liberty Blvd. Malvern, PA 19355 USA
| | - Robert Mckean
- Oncopia Therapeutics Inc, 2 West Liberty Blvd. Malvern, PA 19355 USA
| | - Shaomeng Wang
- The Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
- Department of Pharmacology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
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Chang KS, Chen ST, Sung HC, Hsu SY, Lin WY, Hou CP, Lin YH, Feng TH, Tsui KH, Juang HH. Androgen Receptor Upregulates Mucosa-Associated Lymphoid Tissue 1 to Induce NF-κB Activity via Androgen-Dependent and -Independent Pathways in Prostate Carcinoma Cells. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:ijms24076245. [PMID: 37047218 PMCID: PMC10093854 DOI: 10.3390/ijms24076245] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2023] [Revised: 03/15/2023] [Accepted: 03/23/2023] [Indexed: 03/29/2023] Open
Abstract
The androgen-dependent or -independent pathways are regarded as primary therapeutic targets for the neoplasm of the prostate. Mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue 1 (MALT1) acting as a paracaspase in the regulation of nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) signal transduction plays a central role in inflammation and oncogenesis in cancers. This study confirmed the potential linkages between androgen and NF-κB activation by inducing MALT1 in the androgen receptor-full length (ARFL)-positive LNCaP and 22Rv1 prostate cancer cells. Although androgen did not stimulate MALT1 expression in AR-null or ectopic ARFL-overexpressed PC-3 cells, the ectopic overexpression of the AR splicing variant 7 (ARv7) upregulated MALT1 to activate NF-κB activities in 22Rv1 and PC-3 cells. Since the nuclear translocation of p50 and p65 was facilitated by ARv7 to motivate NF-κB activity, the expressions of MALT1, prostate-specific antigen (PSA), and N-myc downstream regulated 1 (NDRG1) were therefore induced in ectopic ARv7-overexpressed prostate cancer cells. Ectopic ARv7 overexpression not only enhanced 22Rv1 or PC-3 cell growth and invasion in vitro but also the tumor growth of PC-3 cells in vivo. These results indicate that an androgen receptor induces MALT1 expression androgen-dependently and -independently in ARFL- or ARv7-overexpressed prostate cancer cells, suggesting a novel ARv7/MALT1/NF-κB-signaling pathway may exist in the cells of prostate cancer.
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Isebia KT, Lolkema MP, Jenster G, de Wit R, Martens JWM, van Riet J. A Compendium of AR Splice Variants in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:ijms24066009. [PMID: 36983083 PMCID: PMC10053078 DOI: 10.3390/ijms24066009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2023] [Revised: 03/20/2023] [Accepted: 03/21/2023] [Indexed: 03/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Treatment-induced AR alterations, including AR alternative splice variants (AR-Vs), have been extensively linked to harboring roles in primary and acquired resistance to conventional and next-generation hormonal therapies in prostate cancer and therefore have gained momentum. Our aim was to uniformly determine recurrent AR-Vs in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) using whole transcriptome sequencing in order to assess which AR-Vs might hold potential diagnostic or prognostic relevance in future research. This study reports that in addition to the promising AR-V7 as a biomarker, AR45 and AR-V3 were also seen as recurrent AR-Vs and that the presence of any AR-V could be associated with higher AR expression. With future research, these AR-Vs may therefore harbor similar or complementary roles to AR-V7 as predictive and prognostic biomarkers in mCRPC or as proxies for abundant AR expression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Khrystany T Isebia
- Department of Medical Oncology and Cancer Genomics Netherlands, Erasmus MC Cancer Institute, University Medical Center Rotterdam, 3015 Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Martijn P Lolkema
- Department of Medical Oncology and Cancer Genomics Netherlands, Erasmus MC Cancer Institute, University Medical Center Rotterdam, 3015 Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Guido Jenster
- Department of Medical Oncology and Cancer Genomics Netherlands, Erasmus MC Cancer Institute, University Medical Center Rotterdam, 3015 Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Ronald de Wit
- Department of Medical Oncology and Cancer Genomics Netherlands, Erasmus MC Cancer Institute, University Medical Center Rotterdam, 3015 Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - John W M Martens
- Department of Medical Oncology and Cancer Genomics Netherlands, Erasmus MC Cancer Institute, University Medical Center Rotterdam, 3015 Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Job van Riet
- Department of Medical Oncology and Cancer Genomics Netherlands, Erasmus MC Cancer Institute, University Medical Center Rotterdam, 3015 Rotterdam, The Netherlands
- Division of AI in Oncology, German Cancer Research Centre DKFZ, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
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Chandrasekaran B, Tapadar S, Wu B, Saran U, Tyagi A, Johnston A, Gaul DA, Oyelere AK, Damodaran C. Antiandrogen-Equipped Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors Selectively Inhibit Androgen Receptor (AR) and AR-Splice Variant (AR-SV) in Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer (CRPC). Cancers (Basel) 2023; 15:cancers15061769. [PMID: 36980655 PMCID: PMC10046692 DOI: 10.3390/cancers15061769] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2023] [Accepted: 03/09/2023] [Indexed: 03/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Background: Epigenetic modification influences androgen receptor (AR) activation, often resulting in prostate cancer (PCa) development and progression. Silencing histone-modifying enzymes (histone deacetylases-HDACs) either genetically or pharmacologically suppresses PCa proliferation in preclinical models of PCa; however, results from clinical studies were not encouraging. Similarly, PCa patients eventually become resistant to androgen ablation therapy (ADT). Our goal is to develop dual-acting small molecules comprising antiandrogen and HDAC-inhibiting moieties that may overcome the resistance of ADT and effectively suppress the growth of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Methods: Several rationally designed antiandrogen-equipped HDAC inhibitors (HDACi) were synthesized, and their efficacy on CRPC growth was examined both in vitro and in vivo. Results: While screening our newly developed small molecules, we observed that SBI-46 significantly inhibited the proliferation of AR+ CRPC cells but not AR- CRPC and normal immortalized prostate epithelial cells (RWPE1) or normal kidney cells (HEK-293 and VERO). Molecular analysis confirmed that SBI-46 downregulated the expressions of both AR+ and AR-splice variants (AR-SVs) in CRPC cells. Further studies revealed the downregulation of AR downstream (PSA) events in CRPC cells. The oral administration of SBI-46 abrogated the growth of C4-2B and 22Rv1 CRPC xenograft tumors that express AR or both AR and AR-SV in xenotransplanted nude mice models. Further, immunohistochemical analysis confirmed that SBI-46 inhibits AR signaling in xenografted tumor tissues. Conclusion: These results demonstrate that SBI-46 is a potent agent that inhibits preclinical models of CRPC by downregulating the expressions of both AR and AR-SV. Furthermore, these results suggest that SBI-46 may be a potent compound for treating CRPC.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Subhasish Tapadar
- Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering & Biosciences, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, 315 Ferst Dr. NW, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA
| | - Bocheng Wu
- Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering & Biosciences, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, 315 Ferst Dr. NW, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA
| | - Uttara Saran
- Rangel School of Pharmacy, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77845, USA
| | - Ashish Tyagi
- Rangel School of Pharmacy, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77845, USA
| | - Alexis Johnston
- Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering & Biosciences, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, 315 Ferst Dr. NW, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA
| | - David A. Gaul
- Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering & Biosciences, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, 315 Ferst Dr. NW, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA
| | - Adegboyega K. Oyelere
- Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering & Biosciences, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, 315 Ferst Dr. NW, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA
- Correspondence: (A.K.O.); (C.D.); Tel.: +1-404-894-4047 (A.K.O.); +1-979-436-0495 (C.D.)
| | - Chendil Damodaran
- Rangel School of Pharmacy, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77845, USA
- Correspondence: (A.K.O.); (C.D.); Tel.: +1-404-894-4047 (A.K.O.); +1-979-436-0495 (C.D.)
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Lee C, Chen Y, Hernandez E, Pong R, Ma S, Hofstad M, Kapur P, Zhau H, Chung LWK, Lai C, Lin H, Lee M, Raj GV, Hsieh J. The central role of Sphingosine kinase 1 in the development of neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC): A new targeted therapy of NEPC. Clin Transl Med 2022; 12:e695. [PMID: 35184376 PMCID: PMC8858611 DOI: 10.1002/ctm2.695] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2021] [Revised: 12/09/2021] [Accepted: 12/20/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC) is often diagnosed as a sub‐type from the castration‐resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) recurred from the second generation of anti‐androgen treatment and is a rapidly progressive fatal disease. The molecular mechanisms underlying the trans‐differentiation from CRPC to NEPC are not fully characterized, which hampers the development of effective targeted therapy. Methods Bioinformatic analyses were conducted to determine the clinical correlation of sphingosine kinase 1 (SphK1) in CRPC progression. To investigate the transcriptional regulation SphK1 and neuroendocrine (NE) transcription factor genes, both chromosome immunoprecipitation and luciferase reporter gene assays were performed. To demonstrate the role of SphK1 in NEPC development, neurosphere assay was carried out along with several biomarkers determined by quantitative PCR and western blot. Furthermore, in vivo NEPC xenograft models and patient‐derived xenograft (PDX) model were employed to determine the effect of SphK1 inhibitors and target validation. Results Significant prevalence of SphK1 in NEPC development is observed from clinical datasets. SphK1 is transcriptionally repressed by androgen receptor‐RE1‐silencing transcription factor (REST) complex. Furthermore, sphingosine 1‐phosphate produced by SphK1 can modulate REST protein turnover via MAPK signaling pathway. Also, decreased REST protein levels enhance the expression of NE markers in CRPC, enabling the transition to NEPC. Finally, specific SphK1 inhibitors can effectively inhibit the growth of NEPC tumors and block the REST protein degradation in PDX. Conclusions SphK1 plays a central role in NEPC development, which offers a new target for this lethal cancer using clinically approved SphK1 inhibitors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cheng‐Fan Lee
- Department of Urology University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Dallas Texas USA
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology College of Medicine National Taiwan University Taipei Taiwan
| | - Yu‐An Chen
- Department of Urology University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Dallas Texas USA
| | - Elizabeth Hernandez
- Department of Urology University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Dallas Texas USA
| | - Rey‐Chen Pong
- Department of Urology University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Dallas Texas USA
| | - Shihong Ma
- Department of Urology University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Dallas Texas USA
| | - Mia Hofstad
- Department of Urology University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Dallas Texas USA
| | - Payal Kapur
- Urology and Pathology University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Dallas Texas USA
| | - Haiyen Zhau
- Uro‐Oncology Research Department of Medicine Cedars‐Sinai Medical Center Los Angeles California USA
| | - Leland WK Chung
- Uro‐Oncology Research Department of Medicine Cedars‐Sinai Medical Center Los Angeles California USA
| | - Chih‐Ho Lai
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences College of Medicine Chang Gung University Taoyuan Taiwan
| | - Ho Lin
- Department of Life Sciences National Chung Hsing University Taichung Taiwan
| | - Ming‐Shyue Lee
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology College of Medicine National Taiwan University Taipei Taiwan
| | - Ganesh V Raj
- Department of Urology University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Dallas Texas USA
- Department of Pharmacology University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Dallas Texas USA
| | - Jer‐Tsong Hsieh
- Department of Urology University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Dallas Texas USA
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Paliouras M, Seltzer S, Giannopoulos P, Bismar T, Trifiro M. Investigation of androgen receptor-dependent alternative splicing has identified a unique subtype of lethal prostate cancer. Asian J Androl 2022; 25:296-308. [PMID: 36259569 DOI: 10.4103/aja202263] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022] Open
Abstract
A complete proteomics study characterizing active androgen receptor (AR) complexes in prostate cancer (PCa) cells identified a diversity of protein interactors with tumorigenic annotations, including known RNA splicing factors. Thus, we chose to further investigate the functional role of AR-mediated alternative RNA splicing in PCa disease progression. We selected two AR-interacting RNA splicing factors, Src associated in mitosis of 68 kDa (SAM68) and DEAD (Asp-Glu-Ala-Asp) box helicase 5 (DDX5) to examine their associative roles in AR-dependent alternative RNA splicing. To assess the true physiological role of AR in alternative RNA splicing, we assessed splicing profiles of LNCaP PCa cells using exon microarrays and correlated the results to PCa clinical datasets. As a result, we were able to highlight alternative splicing events of clinical significance. Initial use of exon-mini gene cassettes illustrated hormone-dependent AR-mediated exon-inclusion splicing events with SAM68 or exon-exclusion splicing events with DDX5 overexpression. The physiological significance in PCa was investigated through the application of clinical exon array analysis, where we identified exon-gene sets that were able to delineate aggressive disease progression profiles and predict patient disease-free outcomes independently of pathological clinical criteria. Using a clinical dataset with patients categorized as prostate cancer-specific death (PCSD), these exon gene sets further identified a select group of patients with extremely poor disease-free outcomes. Overall, these results strongly suggest a nonclassical role of AR in mediating robust alternative RNA splicing in PCa. Moreover, AR-mediated alternative spicing contributes to aggressive PCa progression, where we identified a new subtype of lethal PCa defined by AR-dependent alternative splicing.
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Differential Expression of the Androgen Receptor, Splice Variants and Relaxin 2 in Renal Cancer. Life (Basel) 2021; 11:life11080731. [PMID: 34440475 PMCID: PMC8402134 DOI: 10.3390/life11080731] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2021] [Revised: 07/16/2021] [Accepted: 07/16/2021] [Indexed: 12/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: The role of the androgen receptor (AR) in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is unclear. We aimed to analyze the expression of AR and its splice variants (SVs) and their correlation with relaxin 2 (RLN2) and cytokines in RCC. Methods: We investigated the expression of RLN2 and AR variants in 25 clear cell RCC (ccRCC) and 9 papillary (pRCC) tumor tissues and the corresponding controls using quantitative PCR and serum RLN2, testosterone and cytokine levels in matched samples using ELISA and chemiluminescent immunometric assay, respectively. Results: ccRCC tissues but not pRCC tissues more frequently expressed AR and the SVs than did normal tissues. All pRCC samples expressed more AR than did ccRCC samples. The highest expression of all AR variants except AR-V12 was found in low-stage tumors, with dominant expression of AR-V7. In males in the ccRCC cohort, the expression of AR-FL, AR-V1 and AR-V3 was significantly correlated with that of RLN2. The secretion pattern of proinflammatory IL-6 was higher in ccRCC than in pRCC. Conclusions: The results highlight additional molecular differences between ccRCC and pRCC, suggesting the influence of external factors on the whole kidney or genetic predispositions to developing certain types of renal cancer, and may support further pathological analysis and studies of targeted hormone therapy.
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