학술논문

An androgen receptor switch underlies lineage infidelity in treatment-resistant prostate cancer
Document Type
article
Source
Nature Cell Biology. 23(9)
Subject
Prostate Cancer
Genetics
Cancer
Stem Cell Research
Urologic Diseases
Aetiology
1.1 Normal biological development and functioning
Underpinning research
2.1 Biological and endogenous factors
Cell Line
Tumor
Enhancer of Zeste Homolog 2 Protein
Gene Expression Regulation
Neoplastic
Gene Regulatory Networks
Humans
Male
Prostatic Neoplasms
Receptors
Androgen
Signal Transduction
Biological Sciences
Medical and Health Sciences
Developmental Biology
Language
Abstract
Cancers adapt to increasingly potent targeted therapies by reprogramming their phenotype. Here we investigated such a phenomenon in prostate cancer, in which tumours can escape epithelial lineage confinement and transition to a high-plasticity state as an adaptive response to potent androgen receptor (AR) antagonism. We found that AR activity can be maintained as tumours adopt alternative lineage identities, with changes in chromatin architecture guiding AR transcriptional rerouting. The epigenetic regulator enhancer of zeste homologue 2 (EZH2) co-occupies the reprogrammed AR cistrome to transcriptionally modulate stem cell and neuronal gene networks-granting privileges associated with both fates. This function of EZH2 was associated with T350 phosphorylation and establishment of a non-canonical polycomb subcomplex. Our study provides mechanistic insights into the plasticity of the lineage-infidelity state governed by AR reprogramming that enabled us to redirect cell fate by modulating EZH2 and AR, highlighting the clinical potential of reversing resistance phenotypes.