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Jeon HY, Pornour M, Ryu H, Khadka S, Xu R, Jang J, Li D, Chen H, Hussain A, Fazli L, Gleave M, Dong X, Huang F, Wang Q, Barbieri C, Qi J. SMAD3 promotes expression and activity of the androgen receptor in prostate cancer. Nucleic Acids Res 2023; 51:2655-2670. [PMID: 36727462 PMCID: PMC10085708 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkad043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2022] [Revised: 01/10/2023] [Accepted: 01/13/2023] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Overexpression of androgen receptor (AR) is the primary cause of castration-resistant prostate cancer, although mechanisms upregulating AR transcription in this context are not well understood. Our RNA-seq studies revealed that SMAD3 knockdown decreased levels of AR and AR target genes, whereas SMAD4 or SMAD2 knockdown had little or no effect. ChIP-seq analysis showed that SMAD3 knockdown decreased global binding of AR to chromatin. Mechanistically, we show that SMAD3 binds to intron 3 of the AR gene to promote AR expression. Targeting these binding sites by CRISPRi reduced transcript levels of AR and AR targets. In addition, ∼50% of AR and SMAD3 ChIP-seq peaks overlapped, and SMAD3 may also cooperate with or co-activate AR for AR target expression. Functionally, AR re-expression in SMAD3-knockdown cells partially rescued AR target expression and cell growth defects. The SMAD3 peak in AR intron 3 overlapped with H3K27ac ChIP-seq and ATAC-seq peaks in datasets of prostate cancer. AR and SMAD3 mRNAs were upregulated in datasets of metastatic prostate cancer and CRPC compared with primary prostate cancer. A SMAD3 PROTAC inhibitor reduced levels of AR, AR-V7 and AR targets in prostate cancer cells. This study suggests that SMAD3 could be targeted to inhibit AR in prostate cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hee-Young Jeon
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Majid Pornour
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Hyunju Ryu
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Sudeep Khadka
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Rui Xu
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Jihyun Jang
- Department of Cardiac Surgery, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Deqiang Li
- Department of Cardiac Surgery, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Hegang Chen
- Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Arif Hussain
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Baltimore VA Medical Center, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Ladan Fazli
- Vancouver Prostate Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Martin Gleave
- Vancouver Prostate Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Xuesen Dong
- Vancouver Prostate Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Furong Huang
- Department of Pathology and Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Qianben Wang
- Department of Pathology and Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
| | | | - Jianfei Qi
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baltimore, MD, USA
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